Life's Rules: Trust
by Gecko Osco
Summary: Life isn't always fair or kind, sometimes you just gotta follow it's rules to keep your sanity from flying out the window.[ROSF, RAEBB, CYJX, OCOC].
1. Afraid?

A/N: Why hello all my fellow.... Ummm.... People! I'm here and I'm raring to go! I'm taking a break from my other fic, because I got this idea, and I couldn't wait to write it! So, w/out further pointless babble, here is my first chapter of "Life's Rules: Trust"! Oh, and by the way, this is part one of a trilogy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, or anything affiliated w/ them. If I did, I wouldn't have to worry about money at all!

**Chapter 1: Afraid?**

Trust: Assured reliance on the character, strength, ability, or truth in someone or some future.

Jump City. So many people moved here to escape the hectic and fear-filled lives in Metropolis and Gotham. Little did they know that their demons would follow them there. A once clean and safe community is now brimming with trash, the homeless, and criminals of every shape and type. Graffiti covers half of the city, and murder, robberies, and thuggings are now so commonplace that no one even turns a head when they hear about it on the news.

No, it isn't the quietest town in the world, or the safest for that matter, but it was the home for five exceptional beings who resided in a huge ' T ' shaped tower on an island, off the coast of the city. Everyone in the city knew who they were, be it liked or disliked, and it became a comfort that these five kids would always be there to protect them from the fears and demons that had followed them so far. But, I wonder, do the masses who reside in this city ever stop to think about their young heroes' fears? Do they ever stop and think to be thankful that the "Teen Titans" have given up so much in their lives so that some unknown bystander can be carefree? No. I don't believe they do, or care for that matter.

And, then I worry if this path the Titans chose will ultimately lead to their downfall, not to some unseen evil, but to themselves. But, hell, that's why we're here after all. To keep that from happening...

It was another average day at titan Tower, if that was even possible. A green changeling and a huge cybernetic teen were arguing over the ever-important subject of breakfast. An irritable gothic girl was trying to meditate over the din the other two were making, before she finally gave up and decided to just sit at the table with a book, and wait to eat. On the other side of the tower, a young man was taking all of his aggressions and frustrations with himself, and situations that were befalling the team, out on a punching bag before he had to go to breakfast. And last but not least, a pretty alien girl was sitting on the roof of the huge tower, so lost in her own thoughts to know that breakfast was even going on. Yep, just another normal, average morning.

' I wonder if Slade will start to terrorize the city again, now that he has returned,' Starfire mused. She shook her head in frustration, causing her long, red hair to sway back and forth. Her bright emerald eyes flashed in anger as she thought about the team's arch-nemesis sudden and unexpected return. The team had just beaten the poo out of Johnny Rancid yet again, as he was trying to rob a jewelry store, when suddenly a dozen robotic henchmen had appeared and started firing at the Titans. They were all surprised, and could tell that Robin was afraid he was having hallucinations again. The robots were not so much a problem, but then they saw him, _Slade,_ watching from the end of the street, and he said that he'd see them all again soon. Then he disappeared as quickly has he had come, and the Titans were left to live in worry for the past three weeks that Slade would unleash a deadly, and devastating attack on the city.

He wasn't even supposed to be alive, after all, who survives falling into a pit of lava, but somehow he was, and he was on the loose yet again. But that wasn't even what caused the alien princess to become so angry.

' I thought, with him gone, Robin would no longer have to spend his time obsessing over that fiend! He has had enough pain from that monster and I do not wish to see him in any more. He does not deserve that, he is brave, noble, kind, han-'

"EEP!" she suddenly yelped out. Starfire stopped herself, trying to push the thought out of her mind, but she just couldn't. She couldn't stop thinking about him, not when she was sleeping, not when she was daydreaming, and now apparently, not when she was awake! She couldn't stop thinking about his past, his abilities, his thoughts, and foremost, about his eyes. Robin's eyes were something of a mystery to the team, after all, no one had ever seen them before. About a year ago, Beast Boy even tried to get it off one morning by shooting a rubber suction covered with glue at it to pull it off. It didn't work, and left a very disgruntled, glue covered Cyborg, and a very pissed off Robin. Needless to say, it had never been attempted again. But, Starfire kept on thinking about them, what shape they were, what color, how he looked with them.

' But why do I care so much?' She asked herself. ' The rest of my friends do not seem to think on this as much as I do, It is just his eyes after all.'

' Maybe it's not just his eyes,' a little voice in the corner of her mind argued.

' What do you mean?' Starfire asked backed.

' What I mean is that perhaps you wish to see his eyes because you wish to know who he really is. You wish for him to care about you the way you care about him, and that can only happen if he lets you in.'

A very surprised Starfire started to counter, ' But, I do not-'

' Really?'

Now annoyed, ' How could I? He is my best friend and partner, it would not be fair to the team.' Starfire responded. ' Besides, I nearly married someone else not so long ago, and I have-'

' But you didn't want to! You would have regretted that for the rest of your life and you know it.'

' But I cannot possibly-'

' Yes you can and you do!'

' But I'm not old enough to comprehend those kind of feelings!'

' You are old enough! You love him Starfire!'

Not wanting to even begin to argue with herself on that topic, because she knew in her heart that she would lose, she finally just shouted out loud, "Be quiet now please!"

"Am I interrupting anything?" a monotone voice asked from the door leading back down into the tower.

"No friend Raven!" Starfire yelped as she jumped up in surprise. "I was merely wishing to think up here about, umm, about.."

"You know Star, you're not a very good liar, and that's saying something considering that we live here with beast Boy," Raven interrupted. When Starfire didn't answer she continued, " Breakfast was starting and since you weren't there, I decided to go find you."

Walking toward Starfire she looked right at her and said, "Look, this really isn't my thing, but do you want to talk about what's wrong? You've been acting a little bit less cheery lately and that's usually not a good sign."

"I have been worried about someone since we learned that Slade is alive," Starfire answered slowly, and quietly.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess Robin," Raven said with a sigh.

"How did you-" Starfire began.

" Please, it's obvious you would be worried about him. He always gets obsessed whenever Slade's around, and it's a no-brainer to me that you care for him, and don't even try to deny it," Raven said, silencing the protest rising from the Tamaranian's mouth. " 'm an empath remember, I see these things."

"I do care for him," Starfire confessed in a small voice. "But it does not matter Raven for I know he cannot possibly feel the same."

"Do you love him Star?" Raven asked. Starfire gave her head a small nod, and Raven continued. "Well, you're wrong Star, because he does feel the same way about you, maybe even more in fact. He's just, ugh, he's just ...afraid."

" Afraid?" Starfire asked, confusion mixed with happiness all over her face. "Why would he be afraid?"

' How do I explain this?' Raven thought to herself. "He's afraid because he doesn't want you to get hurt. He doesn't believe that you'd be safe if someone found out how much he cares." Raven then took hold of Starfire's arm and led her back down the stairs to breakfast.

Starfire was in so much shock, she didn't know what to think! On one hand she wanted to just go up on the roof and scream all of her emotions out, but she knew someone would hear. On the other hand, she just wanted Robin to sweep her into his arms and yell out how much he loved her, and then kiss her in front of the whole team. But she knew that wouldn't happen unless, how did they put it, flying pigs would walk? So, she decided to take a leaf out of Raven's book and just try to hide her emotions. As she and Raven entered the kitchen to hear Cyborg and beast boy arguing over food as usual Starfire put on a big smile and sat down at the table.

"Man, would ya just let me enjoy my bacon!" Cyborg yelled at Beast Boy, who was trying to switch out the meat products for tofu.

"Dude, it's good! Just try it wouldja?!" Beast boy yelled back.

"NO!!!!!!"

"Friends," Starfire began. "Let us do something fun today! Perhaps we can potato the couch and watch a movie!"

"For once, I agree with her," Raven said looking up from her tea. "Anything to get you two to be quiet."

As the other four made so much noise to wake up the whole town, Robin just sat there, mulling over the thoughts in his head. ' If I could just get a tracer on him, maybe we could find out where he is hiding. But, argh! That won't work anymore than the other lame-ass plans I seem to be coming up with lately. What's wrong with me?!' he asked himself in frustration. ' I can't seem to focus on what I need to do. Everytime I start to plan, all I can seem to think about is...'

"Robin," Starfire asked, ripping the masked-youth away from his thoughts. Looking up he saw that she wanted to ask him something, something she had probably just explained to the whole team, that he didn't catch because he was thinking too much about, well, her. ' You need to stop this Robin,' he scolded himself. ' it's only going to lead to more implications that you can't have.' "Yeah Star?" he finally answered.

"Do you wish to partake in today's festivities?" She asked.

"That actually sounds great Star," Robin began before...

"BRAEH BRAEH BRAEH!!!"

"The alarm is going off!" Beast Boy said. " Must be trouble!"

"Thank you captain obvious," Raven said rolling her eyes.

"There's a new baddie in town," Robin said checking the computer. "North of the civic plaza on 9th avenue." He looked up from the screen and saw all the Titans were ready to go, but Starfire looked a little crestfallen. "I'm sorry Star," he said quietly. "Maybe some other time okay?" She gave a small nod and smile, and put on her game face.

"All right Titans, GO!"

So, there it was y'all. I'll try to update soon, can't promise anything, but hopefully w/in a week I'll have ch.2 posted. Please you guys, review! They're like food for the author's soul! I accept flames, IF they are constructive in some way or form. Don't spew just to spew... that's what anger management classes are for! Later! Osco


	2. A New ThreatDarnit!

A/N: Why hello everyone!!! I'm back for round two! Thanx to the people who reviewed, and who were patient w/ the lack of action in the first chapter. There's plenty of that in this chapter!!! Oh, I'm only posting my disclaimer in the first chappie, so if you're adamant about seeing it, you know where to go! On to the show!!!

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Chapter Two: A New Threat....Darnit!

War. Battle. Fights. Is there a time for each of these not so honorable things? I sometimes wonder this particular thought for hours at a time, heck, there are people whose job is solely just to analyze each of those themes. Maybe there is a right time for each, if no peaceful solution can be found, even if these three themes can end up being even more disastrous than the original problem they were supposed to fix.

If you're hearing this, you probably have no idea whose even really speaking. He said we should do these audio journal things to help the titans, even if we should fail. Do you not trust us? Well, let me give you some information about us, well, besides our names because we cannot really trust you. You can probably tell by my voice that I'm a girl, and you could probably tell the audio before this was a boy. I have long, wavy brown hair, and lavender eyes, and while some would call me beautiful, I really don't see it. Boyfriends, can never trust them to tell the truth! Speaking of which, he has long, tousled, jet-black hair and blue eyes that are flecked with gold all throughout them. Now, he is very attractive, but he would probably say I'm on crack and that I don't know what I'm saying (but he really is quite a catch!).

Well, enough about us, after all we are supposed to be talking about our "heroes" and how they fight all the time. I do feel pity for those who fight, battle, or even wage war on the villains that consistently haunt their cities day after day. These "heroes" as it were, must continually deal with the guilt that accompanies fighting off the 'bad' guys for once, were they not 'good' guys? I just hope that these self-sacrificing few never stop feeling that guilt, never stop being human...

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Any area even encompassing the civic plaza was a complete mess by the time the Titans arrived at the scene. Smoking lamp posts, over-turned cars, people running with all their strength in every direction, and scattered bits of debris all over the streets made the area look like a scene from a doomsday movie.

"Well," Beastboy said with a weak laugh. "At least we know we're in the right place huh?"

As Raven rolled her eyes, Robin ordered out his ever so typical, "Titans, split up and look for whoever is behind this!"

"Betcha it was the Hive or something," Cyborg shouted as they all went off in their own direction. "This always seems to be their type of party."

"I don't think so," Robin said to himself as he began to creep down one of the alleyways that led away from the plaza. ' They wouldn't have run,' he thought to himself as he scanned the windows, and dumpsters for any kind of clue. He suddenly stopped, whipped out his bo-staff, and crouched down into a defensive position. Something about the stillness of the air and the alley spoke of something or someone lurking about in the shadows. As he swiveled around in his crouch, he felt and heard something land softly behind him. He was just able to roll out of the way of a vicious roundhouse kick that would have hit him in the head, and probably would have knocked him out. He flipped up and swung his bo-staff around to levelly face his attacker, but he was met with a bit of a surprise.

Standing before Robin was a 5'3 black-haired vixen with long, straight locks, and piercing yellow eyes that held no kind of compassion. She had on a black leather-tight suit with a toxic green trim around the edge, and she was barefoot, well, her suit covered her feet, but she didn't have on any shoes. Not any older than 16, she was Robin's age, but her eyes seemed to suggest she was a lot older than that. Robin got a good enough look at her features to see that she was adequately pretty and, judging by her physique, was obviously a seasoned fighter. His attention snapped back enough for him to whip out his communicator and contact the others saying, "Titans, I found our culprit, get over here pronto!"

When he looked back up, he saw the girl was smirking at him, waiting patiently with her gloved hands on her hips and her head cocked to one side. "Are you finished yet?" she asked, her snake-like voice dripping with annoyance. "Or, do I have to set up an appointment to kick your ass?"

Narrowing his eyes at her he spat out, "I don't think that'll be happening today miss!" He then heard his teammates all arrive around him and it was his turn to smirk at the vixen, "Besides, I think we can jump you to the head of the line!" All the Titans got into a fighting stance, but started to ease off when they saw the girl wasn't moving.

" How thoughtful," she answered back. She looked at each of the Titans, sizing them up in her head. ' The green kid won't be too much of a challenge, a little too raw. The gothic one could be an issue, so I'll have to take her out first. The robot, well, I guess I could just keep out of his reach and tire him down. The red, ummm, I could just ignore her altogether. And, our favorite boy, well, lets just see how that plays out.' She then turned her attention back to Robin and said, "You know, I'm honored that the Teen Titans actually came out to visit my little art display," as she threw a trash can lid into a light post and caused it to fall onto the street. "Of course, I know all about you guys. Lets see, we have Beastboy, who can turn into any animal at will, Cyborg, a half-human half-robot hybrid with enough ammo and guns to take out a small town. We have Raven, our resident goth who's telepathic and can create negative energy that can move crap around. I believe the redhead is Starfire, the alien princess that can fly, shoots starbolts, has super-strength, and can shoot eye beams. And last, but not least, we have Robin, the Boy-Wonder," she finished with a mock sigh. Seeing the surprised looks on their faces, she figured she could have a little more fun with one before she got down to business. Putting on an innocent face she asked, "So Robin, seen any good _circus shows_ lately?"

Robin's masked eyes widened, and then narrowed into angry slits at the villain. His teammates looked at him with confusion, seeing clearly that whatever the girl had said had pissed him off beyond belief.

Trying to calm the situation, Starfire suddenly addressed the girl saying, " Please, we do not wish to fight you. I insist you come quietly and no blood will need to be shed."

The girl was quiet for a moment before she finally got into a fighting stance, and drew out a long, jade sword from a scabbard strapped to her back. She then addressed the Titans, "I don't think so red, and by the way, the name is Viper, get used to it kiddies!" as she exploded into action.

She lunged at the Titans, but they all scattered and then broke out into one of their fighting formations. Beastboy charged Viper first, turning into a rhino, and they all thought he would hit her, but she actually grabbed one of his horns, and threw him into a brick wall. He changed back, and passed out from the impact, rubble covering him up to his torso.

Angered by Beastboy's injury, Raven floated down and started chant her mantra, "Azerath Mentrion Zin—Ahh," as she was tackled out of the sky by Viper, who seemed to have jumped at least twenty feet in the air. After slamming Raven into the ground, Viper whipped around to see that Cyborg and Robin were rushing in on her fast, and sees the alien helping Beastboy out of the rubble. She bent down low and flipped over the boys, and hit Cyborg in his lower back with a swift swipe of her blade, causing his legs to buckle, and him to no longer be a threat.

Raven pushed herself up in time to see that Viper and Robin were now fighting, but that Cyborg was pretty beat up. She floated over to him and asked, "Cyborg, are you still on line, please wake up Cyborg! We need you to help Beastboy out!"

He looked up at her and slowly came to his senses. Looking over at Robin and Viper, he saw that they were both evenly matched, blocking every attack made by eachother. He pushed himself up and started to limp over to Beastboy and Starfire, Raven following suit.

" Hey Star!" Cyborg yelled at the girl trying to help the changeling out of the rubble. "Go over and help Robin, me and Raven will take care of BB."

" Oh, are you damaged Cyborg?" Starfire asked, worry etching all over her face.

" He'll be fine," Raven said as she pushed Starfire towards the fight. "You're the only one not hurt, you have to go help Robin."

Starfire nodded her head and started to fly over to the battle just in time to see Viper hit Robin in his knee, crippling him, and start to raise her sword to deliver a killing blow.

" No, Robin!" she shouted as she flew straight into a surprised Viper, ramming her into the wall.

Surprised as she was, for she wasn't expecting the alien to want to fight, Viper pushed off the wall with lightening speed, grabbed her sword off the ground where it had fallen, and cut Starfire deeply in her side right below her ribs.

" Oh," Starfire gasped as she felt the pain lancing through her body, causing her to pass out, and fall from the sky,

Robin, not even considering the possibility of catching Viper runs straight towards her, bad knee and all, to catch the injured redhead before she hit the ground.

Then, before Raven and Cyborg could even start to move towards her, Viper slid her sword back into the scabbard and said, "Well, I gotta run Titans, but be sure that'll I'll see you again, and you better have gotten a lot more serious than that." She then threw a smoke bomb into the alleyway, and when the smoked cleared, she was gone.

Needless to say, the remaining conscious Titans were to stunned to really say anything. Cyborg finally was able to pull out Beastboy out of the rubble, and after slinging him into his arms, he barked out, "Back to the Tower Titans! We can't stay out here and wait for her to come back before we heal Star and BB." And so they left, Cyborg carrying a bruised Beastboy and a limping Robin carrying Starfire, back to the Tower to try to decide what to do next.

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'The girl, Viper, was a definite improvement over Terra,' a masked man known as Slade thought from a top on the building neighboring the alley. ' No emotional attachments, no lingering feelings of self-doubt or guilt. Just pure carnal rage and aggression. She never even got to use her trademark nails, for which she invented her name. Poisoned-filled nails, marvelous. She, I believe, will prove to be my most successful apprentice yet, once she has been properly trained of course.'

Slade broke off his thoughts as he looked back down at the retreating Titans, heading back to their precious Tower. His eye widened in surprise as he saw a very useful clue, and an evil glint alit in it. He saw his would-be apprentice carrying the wounded alien girl, despite his own wounded-knee, instead of chasing down the renegade Viper.

' My my Robin,' Slade thought has the Titans faded out of sight. ' What do we have here? Don't you know it is not wise for the hero to harbor such feelings, you never know what madman is watching.'

His thoughts were interrupted again, but this time by a girl's voice, clearly out of breath and sounding as if she had just been put through a strenuous workout.

" Was that up to par Slade?" Viper asked angrily, has she leaned against the wall to catch her breath. When he didn't respond, she felt free to continue, "They were tough Slade, especially bird-boy. They'll be better prepared next time."

" Yes," Slade answered. "They will, but I believe that you will be ready. I have a plan that will attack their weakest point and use it against them."

" And what would that be what?" Viper asked scathingly. "Are you going to make up another 'doomsday' device, because that probably won't work for the umpteenth time."

" You will see my dear," Slade said with a smile. " You will see."

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Beaten and battered, the Titans waited in the tower as Raven healed the major injuries they each had. When she was finished, only Star's side and Beatsboy's concussion were left only halfway healed, but those would be fine in a day or two.

To be honest, it wasn't the injuries that were troubling the team, it was the silence between them. It was a thick, suffocating fog that wouldn't seem to lift, no matter how many lame jokes Beastboy tried to crack. It was the first time in a long time that they had truly gotten the poo kicked out of them, and it was by a solo villain! Of course, each Titan had their own way of dealing with their frustrations: Robin was spending all his time in the gym or his room, Starfire was trying to goad the team into ' go out and hang the mall' and failing miserably, Beastboy and Cyborg were battling each other relentlessly on a racing video game they were sick of, and Raven meditated on the roof.

However, Raven's method wasn't working out as well as she would have liked, due to the fact that she couldn't seem to focus to save her life. To many thoughts about Viper, Robin and Starfires' relationship, and Beastboy were swimming through her head.

' Well, you can't think about that last one, because well, how on earth are you supposed to have a relationship if you can't have any emotion?' she asked her self.

' Yes you can silly!' Happy Raven put in. ' All you have to do is ask!'

"Hummmm, Well, I'll think about that some other time," she said aloud to herself, as she was finally able to focus. "Azerath Mentrion Zinthos."

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A/N: Whew!! That was a long one uh? Didn't look that long on paper, oh well! Remember, Review!! It inspires me to update faster, and you guys will really like the next chapter! It's my favorite in the whole story, well other than the last two! I hope the fight scene was okay, to be honest, they're really not my expertise.

Oh, and a side note to Grumbumble, it was me, Osco, that reviewed you. Gecko is a little preoccupied right now, so she isn't really doing a lot on the site. But, I'm still here! Alrighty, long enough end note... Ciao! Osco


	3. Gifts and Curses

**A/N: Hi, just reposting this w/ no lyrics...curse 3: Gifts & Curses:**

What makes a hero? Is it their prevailing sense of justice or is their steadfast and reliable integrity? Is it amazing speed, strength, or courage? Is it their need to help the unknown faces in their hectic world, to give them a feeling of security?

No, I believe it is something much simpler than any of those things. What makes you a hero is your willingness to give up what you want or need the most, to keep it or them from being harmed. To do this and remain steady in your conviction, no matter how much pain it may cause you or what you're trying to protect, makes you a hero. Maybe that's why I hate the idea of heroes…

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" ARRGHHH!" Robin yelled in anger as he pummeled the crap out of a punching bag. It was needless to say that he was angry, but not exactly clear why. Most of the team just thought he was angry at this 'Viper' and the fact that she had just beaten them, single-handedly mind you, and then she had escaped. Being the perfectionist he is, Robin would naturally be upset over this, and would not be uncommon to the team for him to spend hours in the gym to vent out his feelings. After all, it was in the nature of heroes or leaders to obsess over these new villains and such.

But none of these reasons were why he was really infuriated, why he was really not letting anyone talk to him, or try to calm him down.

" How could I have been so stupid!" he shouted to himself. " Am I that blind! That kick was coming, I should have seen it by how she fought, and was I not able to fight back! That entire fiasco back there was my FAULT!" he yelled out, finally knocking the mangled mess of what once was the punching bag to the floor. Finally exhausting himself, he slowly sank to the ground, a terrible guilt filling him up, and just leaned against a nearby wall to keep from falling over completely.

Has he stared straight ahead he whispered to himself, " If that knife was just a few inches over…she could've died. And what could I have done lying there against a dumpster? Nothing. I failed her."

He pushed himself off the ground after what seemed like hours and walked over to the mirrors hanging across the other side of the gym. Looking at his masked face, he pulled it off to show two very deep blue eyes, two eyes that seemed to mirror the soul of someone much older than just sixteen. He hardly ever looked at himself without the mask anymore, in his opinion that boy died along with his parents that night, and marveled in the fact that he really didn't recognize himself. The wonders of what a mask or a pair of specks can do to alter a person's image of himself. Looking down to his mask, which was crumpled in his hands, a million thoughts went spinning through his head, but one in particular overcoming the rest.

' Don't you see now Dick? This is why you can't feel this way about her. Next time she'll be stabbed in the chest cavity, or kidnapped, or whatever else some lunatic can come up with! I can't… I won't let that happen to her, just because some stupid 'hero' has feelings for her!'

He slowly put the mask back on, once more hiding who he truly was from himself to become Robin, and left the gym, to out of focus to work-out anymore. He walked down the hall in sluggish, morose steps, thinking about the only thing in the world he wanted more than his family back.

' I know that I can't like her, hell who am I kidding, after a little over a year its LOVE her! She'll get hurt, I know she will. Robin has to many enemies and old 'friends' that would jump at the chance to take something away from the dear old Bat's " little bird." After all, what was it that the Bat told you to mind most of all? Oh that's right, that heroes aren't supposed to fall in love.'

' Ugh, just forget it Robin!' he scolded himself, disgusted I the self-pity he was currently wading in. ' it's not like a girl like that would ever feel the same way towards me anyway,' he thought as he walked into the kitchen.

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" Jerk," Beastboy muttered to himself as he stalked down the hall. " I know he cheated… you can't just go from turbo level to nitro level without some kind of a cheat code! That's, like, skipping three whole other levels man! Oh, just wait, I'll get him back. I just need to think of the perfect revenge plot…hehehe," he laughed with a mischievous gleam in his green eyes. " I could always switch out his car battery fluid with honey, oh that would make him sooo-OUCH!" he yelped has he collided with Raven, who was walking back down from the roof.

" Oh, sorry," he mumbled as he first pushed himself up and then proceeded to help Raven up. " I was just, ummm…thinking of what to get Cyborg for his birthday! Yeah that's it."

Raven stared at Beastboy thinking, ' okay, I was wrong. Star isn't the worst liar in the Tower.'

" So, uhh, whatcha doin' up on the roof?" Beastboy asked hesitantly when Raven just continued to stare at him. It was making him uncomfortable.

" I was thinking about that Viper girl," raven answered emotionlessly.

" She was tough right?" Beastboy asked. " I mean she knew how to beat all of us, and she was as good as Robin when it came to hand-to-hand combat."

" Yeah, she was."

" So, do ya think Robin is still ticked off still, or do you think he's calmed down enough to not, ya know, bite anyone's head off?" Beastboy asked with a trace of guilt in his voice. After all, he had been knocked out of commission, and was pretty much useless and not able to help.

Raven, sensing this, gave Beastboy a very rare smile and answered, " I think he'll be fine Beastboy. He knows you gave everything you could've given considering the circumstances. We just weren't prepared for such a prominent villain after the slump we've been having lately, but I'm sure next time we will be." She cocked her head a bit in thought and then continued when Beastboy didn't say anything. " Besides, that wasn't why he was so angry."

" Then why was he?" Beastboy asked with confusion.

As she turned to walk towards the kitchen, she turned around and said, " That isn't for me to disclose, he'll do it wen he's ready." She continued down the hall to get a much-needed cup of tea.

Cracking a huge smile, Beastboy followed her, extremely relieved that no one was mad at him. ' I wonder if she does like me after all.'

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Halfway across town, Viper was wrapping her injured leg up with a cloth caked in anti-bacterial cream. She winced as her gash began to sting, but ignored it and continued to wrap. This wasn't the only injury she had sustained from the Titans, despite what it may have seemed like, they really were an able team, they just were lulled into a false sense of security. She would need back-up when she faced them again, which by the way, she was now positive was going to happen, because Slade had just came up with another 'brilliant' plan to bring down the teenage heroes.

Personally, Viper didn't give a rat's ass about those teens, she was more concerned with the two other presence's she felt were in the city. Having animal DNA flowing through your bloodstream did have it perks, and this time her instincts were telling her that these two were more powerful predators than she, so to speak. But Slade had told her to push them from her mind, seeing how they hadn't chosen to reveal themselves just yet, and to focus on the matter at hand. She didn't approve of this tactic, but she was a good apprentice, so she did as she was told, and hadn't brought them up around Slade anymore.

Finishing her wrap job, Viper looked out the window of her, I suppose you could call it a room, but it was really more like cell.

" Jeez," she grumbled to herself. " You think this guy could have afforded a nicer pad but whatever."

In all honesty, the room wasn't as bad as some of the previous homes she'd had. After her mother died from birth complications, her father wanted nothing to do with her. She was the reason her mother was dead, he told her, if you weren't such a freak she might still be here. So, when she was five, he put her in an orphanage, and left her there without a soul in the world. For seven bleak years, she was shuttled form one foster home to the next, none of them able to deal with her 'special abilities.' When she was twelve, she ran away from a particular abusive family, and traveled to Gotham. Picked up by a crime lord, he trained her to be his perfect assassin, and she proved to become just that. She soon began to think of him as the father she never had, and he treated her like his own little princess. But, as what happens to most crime-lords, her mentor was killed in a highly developed scheme, that she later found out involved Batman. The city's hero had set up her boss, and in an elaborate turn of events, had his own gang turn on him to try to save their own hides.

So, with nowhere to go, Viper ended up traveling all over the US and finally landed herself in the marvelous Jump City a little over a month ago. Slade came into the picture shortly after, having had failed twice to find his successor, and she agreed to become his newest apprentice. And, like before, she proved to be much more suited to Slade's ideals than the other two ever were. She knew she really didn't care to be there, but was too cynical to even hope to have a family anymore, after all, dreams didn't come true. And then imagine her surprise when she found out that one of those would be apprentices was the Bat's very own Robin.

" I guess that's two things we have in common Bird-boy," Viper said to the giant T-Tower in the distance. Then her face turned grim and she spat out, " Just you wait, I'll make sure you pay for being involved in the plan that took away the only family I had ever known! I'm gonna make you wish you never killed him, you can be sure of that." She then tore of a part of her bed and hurled it through the window, not really caring that it killed an unsuspecting, unknown man who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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He was only watching her attempts to cook, but he hadn't felt so happy in nearly a week. That's how long it was since the 'Viper Incident' as Cyborg had taken to calling it, and Starfire and Beastboy were both all the way healed. The Titans were ready to face this girl again, and they were a bit more confident with themselves after having little one-on-one chats with Raven. Robin, in particular, was feeling less guilty and was almost back to his regular self, sometimes being called an " ignorant, decadent, weeping little boy," was just what a guy needed to lift his spirits! And when he heard the alarm go off, and saw the unruffled looks of determination on all the Titan's faces, only one negative-self thought passed through his head.

' I'm going to protect you this time Star, no matter what, I'll always be there to help you, I promise.' And with that, they were off.


	4. Risks are a Part of Life

**A/N: **Hey hey people! I'm back, & schools almost on break! YES! On a more topical note, thanx to all my reviewers!! I loved writing that chapter, mainly because I love that song, but that's beside the point… & all the positive feedback( including the stuff from my counterpart Gecko;)) has helped my to crank out another chapter. Now, this one will have more action, but its kinda short, because as I said, action is not my forte! So, enough talk, on to reading!

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**Risks are a Part of Life:**

What is an obsession? The dictionary says it is a " haunting or troubling that takes one over." I suppose that sounds right, but it doesn't explain the reality or depth of the word. In my opinion, a person who is obsessed with something, or someone, will most likely have some kind of reason to let it rule their entire being. It can be as serious as a religious fanatic obsessed with stopping a young woman from getting an abortion, to as trivial and simple as a teenage girl obsessing over the dramas that exist in her favorite TV shows.

But, what happens when that fanatic kills the woman in order to prevent the abortion from taking place? What happens when the young girl becomes so engrossed in her shows that she loses touch with reality, and ends up alienating everyone around her, because she hungers for that 'family's' lifestyle?

What happens when a young hero, so obsessed with a villain, is given a choice that forces him to face that very obsession? Sigh, I'm not really all that sure unfortunately.

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The civic plaza square was so beautiful after the city finished the reconstruction of all the damaged property, unfortunately, it seemed that Viper had taken a liking to the area to develop her ' artistic visions,' hence the area was trashed all over again.

Those poor city construction workers.

It was again in a state of chaos and mayhem, mainly due to the fact that Viper was bad enough on her own, this time she brought some friends.

' Well' Viper thought to herself as she watched the street crumble to pieces in front of her. ' Slade has his moments. These kids seem to actually know what they're doing.'

She patiently watched each one, little analysis' forming in her wicked little mind. ' The robot kid, Gizmo I believe, he's not to bad, just that he's annoying as hell. But, I've never seen anyone who can create machines like this though, to bad he won't last long with me in the picture.

' Oh, and then we have the guy who looks like he's been on steroids since he was three, Mammoth, Woolly mammoth to me though, hehe. Nothing all that remarkable to see here. Super strength, super tough, and super dumb! All that brawn is no good if you don't have a brain that knows how to work it! At least I have a little something extra to actually make me unique… well, enough said about nimrod here.

' And last, but definitely the pick of the litter here, Jinx, the young witch able to cast hexes of energy and bad luck. Now her, I could get used to working with…'

Viper broke out of her reverie to see that the Titans had finally decided to show up. Turning to face the other three, she let out a shrill hiss-like sound and then turned back to face the Team. She thought to notify Slade, but she figured he was probably watching them right now, waiting to make his grand entrance.

" Well, well Titans," Viper taunted as the group suddenly seemed to be right in front of her. " Come back for more? Didn't we learn from my lesson last time, um pity. Looks like you guys are just gonna have to make it up with some extra credit."

" Leave the stupid puns to me Viper," Robin replied, with a smirk on his face. " You're not really all that great with them."

" I know right," Viper answered with a mock sigh. " Just wanted to see how it felt like to be a total ass." She suddenly did a 180, and was deathly serious saying, " You better had brought it this time Titans, last time was just kid stuff. I don't have time to _dick_ around any more." She slowly pulled out her jade kantana, and crouched into her stance.

" I don't know why you seem so cocky," Raven answered, annoyed with the girl's demeanor. " You look to be limping, and you're outnumbered."

" Not this time Raven," she answered with an evil little laugh. " I brought friends this time."

The Hive members decided to come out then, and stood defiantly beside Viper, awaiting their orders. After a very cliché western movie moment, all hell broke loose.

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Raven and Starfire launched themselves at Viper, and were actually putting up a pretty good offense. With Starfire's endless barrage of starbolts, and Raven blocking every exit available to Viper, the assassin was getting pretty hammered. And, everytime Viper turned to launch an attack at one of the girls, they would both fly just out of her reach, still throwing starbolts and force fields at her.

' I hate it when I'm right,' Viper thought viscously to herself has she battled the two Titans. ' I knew they would be more prepared, but no Slade wouldn't listen to me!' Feeling the rage bubble inside her, she lashed out more violently, even the playing field for the time being.

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Elsewhere, the boy half of the Team decided to take on the Hive graduates, and pretty much kicking the crap out of each other. Problem was that Slade appeared out of the smoke it seemed, said something to Robin, and that minuses one member of the team as the Boy wonder and Slade went at it. That just left Beastboy and Cyborg to take care of the Hive teens, except Cyborg and Jinx really didn't seem to want to fight one another.

While firing a blast that sent Gizmo flying, he turned to face Jinx and asked her, " Why are you even here Jinx? This isn't your fight."

" We were hired by Slade because his new apprentice didn't want to face you all again alone," she answered hurling a hex to knock over Beastboy.

After sending Mammoth through the wall with a massive punch, Cyborg turned back and walked right up to Jinx, leaving Beastboy to take care of the behemoth teen. He looked right at her and said softly, " You don't have to be there ya know. You don't belong at that place with Blood. You can just leave."

" And where exactly would I go Metal-head? To go live with you and be a Titan? Humph, I don't think your friends would be so accepting of that.," Jinx answered bitterly.

" How would you know that Jinx?" Cyborg countered as Beastboy sent Mammoth flying over them. " All you've known is that place, and that isn't the best environment to grow up in, and be accepted."

" They accepted me, Cyborg," Jinx replied quietly, although not so sure of herself anymore. " They did."

They're conversation was cut short as Gizmo arrived again, and Cyborg turned to face him. Jinx, on the other hand, stood still, to lost in her thoughts to realize what she was doing.

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Now, while this was happening, let's cut back to the Slade and Robin showdown. As aforementioned, Slade seemingly appeared from the smoke of one of Cyborg's blasts, and calmly strode out to meet the Titans.

" Well, we meet again Titans," he said in that deathly calm voice of his. " Robin, it seems to me as if you've lost your touch, are you ready for a real challenge?"

" I've been ready Slade," Robin growled out as both he and Slade pulled out their bo-staffs, and launched themselves at each other.

It really was amazing to watch, both fighters so gifted in their skills, it seemed like a beautiful, but deadly dance between the two hated enemies. Every attack Robin launched at Slade was parried or dodged in some way, and vice-versa. It looked as if the dance wouldn't stop, but Slade was a lot more enduranced than Robin, and finally hit the boy in the chest with a right hook that sent him flying into the wall. Robin, in a good amount of pain, was just barely able to roll out of the way of a devastating staff blow, but was met with another swift punch that sent him reeling into the other wall.

" Come now Robin," Slade taunted as the boy wonder struggled to his feet. " you can't be tired already, why I haven't even broken a sweat." He strode over to Robin, grasped him by the neck, and slammed him into the wall. " And, this time, I'm very real Robin."

Robin suddenly smirked and sent Slade flying into the street, a number of mini-bombs shells still smoking on his chest.

Approaching Slade once more, Robin said, " I figured you were asshole, maybe you shouldn't let your guard down so easily."

Slade, seeing that his team was losing made a strange hand signal and countered, " Yes, your right Robin, but then again, you shouldn't have either."

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Viper was now putting up a good fight, hurling Raven down the street over to where Beastboy and Cyborg were with a massive kick. She turned to see Starfire floating there, determination etched across her face.

" So Red," Viper called out. " Come back for more? As I recall, I got you pretty good last time, are ready to take that risk?"

" You will not prevail this time Viper," Starfire answered angrily. " I now know how you fight, and am better prepared to administer the 'kicking of the butt' to you!"

" Is that so? Even when lover-boy over there is getting whipped by Slade?"

" Robin?" Starfire asked worriedly.

" Yeah, Bird-boy," Viper jeered back. " You know, he's pretty hot, maybe I'll convince Slade to keep him around a little longer, I could always use a new chew toy."

Starfire was not quite sure what Viper meant by those words, but she knew that she didn't like them one bit. " YOU WILL NOT TALK ABOUT ROBIN LIKE THAT!" she shouted as she blasted Viper with starbolts and eyeblasts. It was clear to see now that it wasn't very wise to piss off a Tameranean.

Looking up dazed after the assault, Viper saw Slade make the hand gesture that she thought was the most ridiculous thing she had ever seen, but knew what it meant. Flipping up, she pulled a long rod out of her jumpsuit, how she got it in will not be answered, and pointed it straight at Starfire, shooting an orange colored beam at the alien and sending her flying towards the ground. For good measure, Viper decided to blast Raven as well, also sending her towards the ground.

Time seemed to stop for a second, until finally Cyborg sent a huge blast at Gizmo and Mammoth, sending them reeling back towards Slade. Jinx and Cyborg stared at each other, before the witch turned to join her retreating comrades. Beastboy, so shocked to see raven lose control of her powers so suddenly, seemed to be locked in place until he finally transformed into a very fat elephant seal, and cushioned Raven's fall.

Slade, met by Viper as he started to walk away, walked past Robin and whispered in his ear, " Only can choose one thing Robin, catch the bad guys once and for all, or save the person you so foolishly decided to care for. That is why you 'heroes' aren't supposed to fall in love."

Robin, facing an inner battle with himself, finally let out a very, VERY loud yell, crouched down and swung his bo-staff at Slade tripping him, before he went to go help Starfire, who was a little dazed by her fall.

' So that's what he chooses," Slade thought to himself after Viper pulled him up, and they both went running after the Hive members. ' You just made a fatal mistake Robin, one that will cost you dearly in the times to come.'

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After the Titans made sure all the civilians were alright, they gathered around to see if anyone was severely injured. No one was, but there was one slight problem.

" I can't seem to use any of my powers," Raven answered when asked if she was alright. " I think that beam disabled them somehow, not permanently, but at least for a few more hours. But, it makes me and Star pretty much useless anyway."

" Yes," Starfire agreed. " I also cannot use my powers, I believe I have become ' weight that is dead'?"

Realizing that they were pretty helpless until the girls regained their abilities, they decided to go back to the Tower, seeing as they would not be able to capture any super-villains today anyway. And so, they walked the sad march back to their home, heads hanging in defeat, and a shadow looming over their souls.

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The other members of her team were all quite ecstatic over the battle that had just

transpired. Slade's idea of using his new Neutralizer beam on the Titan girls was pure genius to them, even if the effects were very short, and the beam was pretty much trashed by firing it twice so close to one another. So, Gizmo and Mammoth decided to go celebrate with a couple of Pizzas, it was after all, a huge success over the Titans for the Hive, and they were sure Brother Blood would allow them to live a little for one night.

Jinx, on the other hand, was not so jubilant or ecstatic over their battle, it just seemed wrong to her. To tell the truth, Jinx had been feeling this way over the last couple of assignments she had to do, ever since Cyborg had infiltrated the Academy, and had spied on them for three weeks! She had feelings for him then, and after today's little escapade, she knew she still had them now. Furthermore, she also believed him to feel the same way after their little 'conversation' in the street that afternoon.

' Could I really leave this place?' Jinx asked herself, the same question that had haunted her since Cyborg's deception had been discovered.

' I mean, the Hive took me in when I had nowhere else in the world to go. They're my family, well, the students are at least.' She wasn't so sure about Brother Blood anymore; his choice to associate with Slade and his new apprentice didn't really appeal to her.

' That girl, Viper, is way too irrational in her thinking, I don't really care for her at all! Always acting so high and mighty all the time because she's an "enhanced" being. Honestly, she's no better than any of us here!'

She stopped herself there, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention to herself because she lost control of her powers in some inner tirade. When she finally arrived at her dorm, she closed the door, and simply lay down on her bed, just staring at the ceiling.

' I know leaving would be wrong, I know there isn't any chance I would be accepted anywhere else. I even know that all those Titans probably don't even want to add another member, I mean, look what happened when they did! There are just way too many risks to even really consider it rationally.'

She just laid there for about an hour, both arguments in her head unrelenting in their pursuit to gain her favor. And as she lay there, she mulled over the implications of the plan she knew that nutcase Slade was planning, but Viper seemed to be pissed off at the world, so she really didn't care what Slade did to it. Jinx narrowed her eyes in determination then, finally coming to a decision, whatever the implications might lead to.

" I'll take the risk," she said fiercely to no one in particular as she pushed herself off the bed, and grabbed a bag.

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**A/N: **Okay, it was a bit longer than I thought. These never look that long down on paper…oh well! Remember, feedback is most appreciated, oh, and try to give me your e-mail address too, cuz I like to thank my reviewers like that, not by listing them at the beginning of my story! Okey-dokey, I'll try to get chapter 5 out by the end of this week, but it is final week so, I can't promise y'all anything. I think you'll like the next chap., but the next couple are going to be introspective stuff, so be prepared. Also, fluff soon to come!! Yeahh!!! Osco


	5. My Own Purpose

**A/N: **Hi again! Thx to my reviewers again and let me kind of explain the beginning of this chapter. It's a conversation between the two openers of every chapter, and if you are keeping track, they go boy-girl. So, the last opener was the girl, I hope this will alleviate some of the confusion bound to happen from this opening. If you all have any ?'s just ask me. Here we go!

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**Chapter 5: My Own Purpose:**

'I know I just did one of these things, but I need to vent on something that's been nagging at the back of my mind for days now. Why is it that people, men in particular, always feel this need to push people they care about away if they feel he or she being threatened? Is it some animalistic instinct you have to protect your territory or something?'

'I suppose you can think of it like that. We're just worried about you. It's hard for us to admit our feelings of being afraid, sad, or lonely, so we try to hide them. Problem is it's like trying to ignore a dilemma that's staring right at us.'

'But, How can that possibly help?! It's not as if we're defenseless! We're not some little damsel-in-distress waiting for our big, strong protector to come rescue us. We can think, breathe, feel, fight, sit, and stand for ourselves! We don't need anyone's pro-'

'But don't you see, we aren't always so sure of that! You do get yourselves into trouble, many more times than you may think, and if anything were to happen to you, I could never forgive myself. It doesn't matter if it was our fault or not, it would be because I was there, and that's all that would register in my mind. You can call it the failure of the male psyche, but we just…. ugh …. We just are so terrified of losing someone on our watch, especially someone we care so much about.'

'Ahren, don't you realize though, if you all don't learn to start expressing those feelings and quit bottling them inside… You'll end up losing us anyways….'

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Another three weeks had passed since the second confrontation at the Civic plaza with Viper, and the Titans, although physically stable, were in no shape to fight their newest super-villain once more. Losing once to a villain can do pretty tolerable damage to a hero's mind, but losing twice… well… the tension in the Tower was proof enough of those results.

It's not to say they didn't try to act like they usually did, they just couldn't find the inner strength to face each other like nothing had happened. And so, a heavy silence grew between them, like an unnatural miasma that refuses to let up, and their confidence in themselves, and their fellow teammates, was beginning to crack. As if that wasn't enough, Slade had entered the picture fully again, and the Team all were aware on the toll that was taking on their leader. Whatever deity happened to be up there, obviously wasn't happy with the teenage super heroes at the time.

But, we are drifting from our tale. It had been, as I mentioned earlier, three weeks, and Starfire felt compelled to try and mend her teammates shattered convictions. She had two decent successes with both Cyborg and Beastboy, and had the two back to their normal video-game crazing selves in no time. Raven proved to be a bit harder to cheer up, after all she never really was cheerful to begin with, but after a mention of visiting the 'mall of shopping' Raven quickly snapped out of her depressing mood to her usual melancholy self.

But, none of these were really what Starfire had expected to be difficult task.

For Robin had taken to leaving whatever room he was in the moment she entered, not offering any explanation why to Starfire, or any of his teammates in fact. She had been trying to corner him for the past two days, be it the gym, his own room, or the common area, and had no success until the third day. But then, after her conversation with him up there on the roof, she sorely wished she hadn't.

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**earlier that evening:**

After her search was fruitless for the second day in the row, Starfire decided to contemplate her self-endowed mission on the roof, her favorite thinking place.

' It is nearly sunset anyway,' she thought to herself had she climbed up the stairway that led to the roof. ' I am most anxious to see it's brilliant beauty after such wearisome days.'

Well, she did get to see her sunset as she opened the door to the roof, but there was already someone there that startled her so much she gave out an, " EEEEPPP!" almost stumbling back down the stairs. She saw that it was Robin on the roof, and felt very embarrassed in deed after she balanced herself and walked towards him.

He looked up startled as he saw her almost rip down the stairs, but that soon turned to dread as he saw her walking towards him, once she had regained her footing and shut the door. He had no real easy exit from the roof, and immediately started mentally cursing himself for going up on the roof, after all it was Starfire's favorite place in the city.

' Why the hell did I come up here, now we have to talk to her! Oh, I probably just had another one of my "brilliant" moments, like usual. But it is so good to see her, she really does look beautiful when the sun is setting. Aww crap, stop thinking like that!! STOP STOP STOP!!!'

" Friend Robin," Starfire asked timidly, unknowingly breaking him from his inner scolding. " Are you well? For I have not seen you much these past weeks, and I was worried that you were not-"

" I'm fine Star," he interrupted gruffly. It killed him to see her look pained at the harshness of his tone, but he couldn't think of anything else to do after the second fight with Viper; after the second time he hadn't been able to protect her.

" Oh," she answered quietly, and sadly. " Well, that is good then."

A silence breached between them, a silence that neither one had thought would ever happen concerning them. They were best friends, always had been since Starfire first arrived on Earth. They had shared each other's cultures with one another, and had always defended each other on any issue they concerned themselves with. They had both known that they could go to each other with any problem, and the other would listen to them. It pained both Robin and Starfire beyond words that they could not speak to each other now, but neither showed that pain, determined to stay strong in front of the other.

" Well, I'm going in to do some research," Robin said lamely after he could not stand the silence any longer.

" Wait!" Starfire said, resolute in not losing her chance to speak with her reclusive friend. " I believe we need to discuss some things Robin. And I believe we should do it now."

" But Star, we need to get research done before-"

" It can wait then," she cut in, her voice unwavering in its seriousness.

Sighing, knowing that this was bound to happen, Robin turned back around and took a seat next to the alien princess, trying very hard to not think of any impish thoughts whilst sitting so close to the girl of his dreams. It goes without saying that he was failing miserably.

" What did you want to talk about Star?" Robin asked, dreading the answer.

She stared at him for a minute, trying to decide what she was going ask him. She knew that she should ask him about the Team's next plan of attack, or talk to him about the Titan's growing unstability, but she had to know one thing most of all, because it was eating her inside to not know the reason.

" Why have you been avoiding me Robin?"

There it was, in that one question Starfire had just laid all of her hidden feelings bare before Robin, and had unknowingly sent the Boy-wonder rocketing through his own torrent of emotions inside of his head. He knew he should have answered ' because I love you with all my heart Starfire and don't want you to get hurt' or something as equally as romantic as that, but we all know that he didn't.

" I…. don't know," he answered finally.

Starefire gave him a look that told him she didn't believe him, and just continued to stare at him.

Sighing to himself before he continued, he decided to tell her part of the truth, " I didn't want you getting hurt again, and that won't happen as likely if we aren't as close of friends anymore." That clearly didn't come out the way he wanted it too, and instantly regretted saying it, seeing Starfire eyes glow in anger in what he had just said.

" So, you do not wish to be acquainted with me anymore?" she asked angrily, hurt beyond belief by his words.

" No! That didn't come out right," Robin tried to explain but was cut off before he finished.

" No? Then you obviously think me to weak to defend myself properly?"

" That isn't what I meant either," Robin answered, feeling his temper rise, more due to the fact of himself than her anger.

" Then tell me what you did mean Robin so I may understand what it is you are unhappy with me about."

" I was trying to protect you as lame as that sounds," Robin said quietly.

" I do not need constant protection Robin!" Starfire yelled back at the human youth. " I am perfectly capable of fighting off criminals myself, and do not need you always troubling yourself on my inefficiency."

" Oh, so when you get stabbed in the side, or get hit by a beam that takes your powers away, that's a show of your prowess?" he retorted angrily. His plan wasn't going the way he had intended it to go at all. However, he immediately regretted saying that last comment so viciously, seeing Starfire's eyes well up with tears. " Wait, Star I didn't mean that I-"

" Maybe we should not be friends then Robin," she said finally, a slight quiver in her voice. " If you think so little of me."

So frustrated with himself, and the disaster of a plan he had created, he let out a painful cry to the wind, then storming past Starfire and back into the Tower. He grabbed his helmet from his room and started heading towards his motorcycle in the garage, completely ignoring the yells from his fellow Titans to where he was going.

Raven, knowing something was amiss, sent out herself to feel his emotions, and let out a gasp of pain with what she was met with. Nearly collapsing before she retracted her soul-self back into her body, she felt Beastboy catch her and ask what was wrong.

" Nothing," she answered as she was helped up. " Just let him go guys. He needs to be alone right now." Shrugging Cyborg headed down to the garage to work on his beloved T-car.

" Where you going Raven?" Beastboy asked when the goth started to head toward the roof. He was utterly confused by what was going on, and it seemed Raven had at least a notion as to what was happening.

" I'm going to talk to Star, just let me know when Robin comes back okay Beastboy?" Raven asked monotonously

" Ummm, okay…" Beastboy answered slowly.

" Thanks," Raven shouted back as she walked down the hall and towards the roof stairway.

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Robin didn't really drive anywhere in particular, just drove around on his motorcycle and tired to clear his mind of all the anger he felt right at that moment. He wasn't angry with Starfire, mainly because he suspected he was physically incapable of being angry with her for anything, he was angry with himself for what seemed like the millionth time that week. Everything that had recently transpired was entirely his fault, because he was the leader of his team, and therefore should have been able to come up with a plan to defeat Slade, Viper, and any of the other villains that haunted his town.

But he couldn't. Everything he came up with was crap, and he couldn't focus on anything to save his life. Well, that wasn't entirely true.

He pulled up his bike next to the curb and walked down to the park. When he arrived there, he just plopped himself down in the grass, and looked up at the branches and then up to the clouds that hung in the air, a suffocating gray mass in the air that aptly reflected the boy's feelings. As he was staring up, he found himself thinking of Starfire yet again, the only thing he seemed to be able to focus on of late. She was perfect to him, not just her looks or her abilities, but every aspect about her. Whether it was the she doused anything she ate in mustard, how she had hidden her pet larva in her room because she feared it to be kicked out of the Tower, or to how she always seemed to believe in him. She was everything he could've possibly wanted in someone, and yet he was terrified of letting her know how he really felt. Bad things seemed to happen to those he truly cared for, and he couldn't bear the thought of her getting hurt because she was associated with him.

' Not that its really a problem anymore thanks to your brilliant plan dumbass,' Robin chastised himself as he closed his eyes, not really caring if he was snuck up on. ' After our little conversation on the roof, I'll be surprised if she even wants to speak to me again,'

He lay there for a good hour, letting his emotions run off him and be abandoned to the cloudy night sky above him, before he decided to head back to the Tower and face Starfire. He pushed himself off the grass and headed back towards his motorcycle, which had been conveniently untouched. Not noticing that, Robin started to reach for his helmet when a small hand snaked around the back of his neck, signaling him to stop. He cursed himself for letting his guard down so easily and started to reach for a weapon when the hand squeezed and a voice whispered in his ear.

" I want to help you, but I'm afraid you would have attacked me before I could say what I need to say."

He could tell the voice was female, and strangely familiar before answering, " And, sneaking up on me and choking me is a good way to show me you're a good guy?"

" If I wasn't you'd be dead," the girl replied simply. After she felt Robin relax she whispered in his ear, " If I let go of your neck, will you promise to take me to the Tower? The information I have to divulge is important, and needs to be said in front of your whole team."

After a brief pause, Robin nodded his head in assent, and the girl let go of his neck. He turned around to see who it was who grabbed him, and was met with two cat-like eyes of a most unexpected person.

" You??!!"

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While that was happening across town, Raven had gone up to the roof to find a horrible looking Starfire there, looking utterly desolate and as if she had cried all the water in her out. Knowing that she really wasn't the best at the whole comforting thing, Raven just sat next to the weeping tameranean and enveloped her into a hug. The two were like that for a while, until Starfire had calmed down enough to tell Raven what had occurred on the roof with Robin.

" Well," Raven said as Starfire finished her story. " I'm not really all that surprised. It's like him to get freaky protective over you after that fight with Viper. It's just in his personality type. But, and listen to this closely Star, it has nothing to do with him thinking you are weak. Because he doesn't. In fact, he probably thinks you are stronger than him in a lot of ways."

" Then why does he treat me as if I am?" Starfire asked sadly.

" I really couldn't tell you Star," Raven answered simply. " I think there is more to this than meets the eye. I think Viper has some kind of connection with Robin's past, and he's afraid that she will use you against him."

" But, I would not let that happen," Starfire exclaimed. " That horrible lady would not be able to even touch me! I would make sure of that!"

" Well, you can tell him that when he comes back," Raven replied without emotion. Then after seeing Star's face fall at the mention of Robin coming back she added more kindly, " And he was never mad at you Star. I mean, I don't think I've ever seen him mad at you before. And the time when he went a little crazy seeing Slade doesn't count because he wasn't himself."

She took the alien's arm and led her back down the stairs to her room to wash off her face. Once that was done, the two girls headed back down to the common room, Starfire's spirits lifted up a tad bit. Cyborg and Beastboy came back in, and immediately started arguing over what would be the main course for dinner.

Ahh, nothing like a debate between vegetarians and meat lovers over what to eat to get you excited.

The argument was just starting to reach the climax, when suddenly, the saw Robin standing in the doorway with another person standing next to him.

" I uhh, found an ally who wants to help us take down our newest friend," Robin said to the Titans. It was clear to see that he was still shocked as to who it was that stood beside him. He walked down into the room and turned his attention back to the figure in the doorway.

" Well, you're here," he said with a bemused look on his face. " There's no turning back now.

" No," the girl answered back. " I suppose not." She stepped out of the shadows, and Starfire, Raven, Beastboy, and Cyborg all let out gasps as to who they saw standing there on top of the stairs. Before them was a well-known girl to them, with a pair of blue jeans on, and a simple white tank top. And while her pink hair wasn't up in it's usual pigtails, there was no mistaking those cat-like, lavender eyes. Before them was one of the top graduates of the Hive academy, sworn enemy of the Titans, and one third of a notorious crime group. Yet, the only one who seemed able to say anything was Cyborg, who had a big grin on his face that seemed to shine through the fog that had been surrounding the Tower for weeks.

" Jinx?!"

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**A/N: **Alright, another longer chapter than I had planned, but whatever. It really isn't a cliffie ( if you want to see a real cliffie go read some of Legend Makers works!) but I will try to get the next chapter out on time. Oh, by the by, if you guys didn't notice, there are two people who are part of the penname. I'm Osco, and my counterpart is Gecko. Gecko actually posted a review for my story, so y'all could know she was really here the whole time, and expect her to do that from time to time, so check out the reviews to see what kind of person she is! And, yeah, she's always that weird! Until next time, review review review!! Bye guys!!Osco


	6. Please don't kill me!

A/N: Umm hey guys, hehehe. I'm sorry I haven't got any new chapters out lately, I swear I have them all set, but I just haven't had the time to write them. Plus, my life has taken a back-seat to my new Gundam Wing DVD box set, something I've wanted for the past four years!!!!!!!

W/ all my newly acquired schoolwork and my job, I haven't had the sufficient amount of time to put out any new chapters, but I do plan on it! In fact, I will have chapter six of this story out by the wkend (if I fail, you may flame me relentlessly!) , so please be patient to all my readers.

On another note, one that has nothing to do w/ this story, I will be taking back up my GW story, so my postings for this story may come at more erratic times. I feel a certain attachment to my GW fic, and I must finish it, considering there are four parts to it! However, I will not be abandoning this fic at all!! Teen Titans will always hold a special place in my heart, just not as much as GW;) I will again implore my readers to be patient w/ my ineptitude, I haven't forgotten about any of you!! Oh, and for you Vampire Orchid, I just wanted to say thanx for always reviewing my story, you win the award for best reviewer! If any of you are feeling pangs for my writing ( probably not, but just in case) Go and check out my GW fic while you're waiting…some of my OC's in this story come from ideas of characters I had in that story! Until later, Ciao! Osco


	7. From Bad to Worse, then back to Good Ag...

**A/N: **Hey everyone, I told you I wasn't leaving you guys! I just have a lot of work on my plate now, w/school, work, and track starting up again next week. Plus, I'm writing a screenplay for a drama class and that always sux, especially when I get to write all those yucky papers for english!

But, enough of me complaining. I'm gonna warn you all now, this chapter is neither long, nor very action-packed, but it is needed to move the plot along. Plus, there may be some fluff in this chappie towards the end, but I'm not saying who! So, enough of me, on to the story!

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**Chapter 6: From Bad to Worse, then back to Good!**

Allies really are a fleeting idea. For instance, during World War II, the Soviet Union and the US were comrades, maybe not best friends, but we were allies. Fast forward to ten years later, the Cold War is going on, and nuclear war between the previously mentioned partners seems imminent. Even somebody who seems to be an ally, can turn on you in a heartbeat, case in point, Terra.

Now, there's someone who we can talk about for hours on end, but I won't bore any of you with those ramblings.

Going back to my original argument, I suppose there is no such thing as an absolute ally, the concept is just to unpredictable. But, I suppose they are needed, for if you do not have allies, friends, or whatever you may call them, it is much harder to fight common enemies. Besides, sometimes having a little faith in humanity can help ward off those pesky feelings of despair…

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You know that moment of stunned silence that seems to happen after you do something so completely embarrassing it's impossible to laugh it off? That moment that seems to last forever, when in reality it lasts for maybe a few seconds? Well, that's kind of the reaction that happened when the Titans came face to face with their unexpected guest. Only, no one burst out laughing after the seconds were done.

" What are _you_ doing here Jinx?" Raven asked, her voice filled with contempt.

" Well," Jinx started. " I thought you guys needed some help with your new villain in town."

" So," Raven answered disbelieving. " You just decided to change sides, by the good will of your heart?"

" Yeah," Beastboy agreed. " That sounds a little fishy to me. Maybe she's not really Jinx, but a robot sent here to abduct us all to space!"

" Beastboy!!!!!" both Cyborg and Raven yelled, while the other three simply glared at the obnoxious little imp. Seeing that his team didn't like his theory, he gave an exaggerated sigh and sat down on the couch.

Shaking her head, Jinx just walked over to the huge window and looked out over the ocean. She ran a jittery hand through her long, pink hair and said, " Listen Raven I don't expect you, or any of the Titans for that matter, to trust me. But, I do ask that you hear what I have to say. After all, I just committed treason against the Hive, I have no one to go to, and have no idea what I plan to do after this meeting; how dangerous can I really be?"

Raven, Cyborg, and Beastboy all looked at each other, not quite sure of what or how they should proceed, and looked to the silent members to seek their opinion.

Neither Starfire or Robin were looking at each other, to afraid of all the unspoken questions between them, but finally Robin said, " I think we should hear her out. She had the opportunity to kill me, and she didn't," Robin raised his voice a little bit after this sentence because of all theexclamations of surprise at him. " She had the opportunity to cut off the head of this team, and she refused, I think we can trust her enough to hear what she has to say."

" Yes," Starfire said quietly, choosing to ignore her feelings for the time being to focus at the problem facing the heroes. " I agree with friend Robin. Jinx has shown great courage coming here, please, let us hear her tale to tell."

Cyborg, who had a huge grin spreading across his face, took a seat on the coach next to Beastboy, a signal to the others to do the same. The other three sat around the couch, both Starfire and Robin taking care to not sit next to each other as usual, and Raven gave a motion for Jinx to start.

" Okay, well, I guess I should start at the beginning," She began slowly, but clearly. " About three weeks ago, Slade came to the academy and asked if Gizmo, Mammoth, and myself would assist his new apprentice in destroying the Teen Titans. The other two agreed whole-heartedly, I agreed because I felt obligated to the institution.

" Anyway, the three of us went to his 'secret' lair and we met with his apprentice for the first time. I must admit, I was rather surprised to see the petite girl standing in front of us, for she did not seem to be threatening at all. She was actually in the process of tending a wound on her leg!

" When she turned to regard us, it was then that I realized why she was Slade's newest cohort. Her voice radiated menace and power. It chilled all three of us to the core, and I was afraid to be anywhere near her for the first week by myself. For, it was plain to see that the girl did not care for Mammoth or Gizmo, and I believed she only tolerated me because I was born with my gifts, not created.

" It went well for those two weeks, we were trained to fight in harmony with her, and she learned how to manipulate our talents to her own benefit. She confided in me her name, her birthplace, and all other matters of personal history, because she felt as if 'someone ought to know,' and since I was the only girl around to disclose information to, Viper chose me. So, I suppose you would like to know the exact extent of her abilities yes?" Jinx asked the Titans, catching them off guard for they had been absorbed in her story.

" If you don't mind," Robin answered shortly.

" Well, I suppose you all know of her enhanced strength and speed, but there is so much more to it then you realize. Those abilities are there because half of her genetic structure is from the DNA of a snake, a King Cobra to be exact. She has those abilities because the snake has a super strength and speed in accordance to its body, and because hers is much larger than a snake's, her skills are significantly more pronounced.

" Oh, she also has the animal instinct to tell when greater predators, danger to you or me, is present; I suppose it is like a sixth sense. Oh, and her name comes from her trademark skill. She has poison filled nails which expand when she is about to attack, or to the snake, strike."

" But why," Raven asked. " No wait, _how_ did she become this way?"

Jinx took a breath before starting again with, " I was getting to that. Her parents were both eccentric Zoologists who wished to preserve endangered animals from extinction by any means possible. There was an accident in their lab one day, and her mother convienently happened to be pregnant with her, and Viper's mother's DNA was mixed with the cobra's DNA. Naturally, it affected Viper's Dna, which was beginning to form from inside the mother's womb, and it resulted in her being half animal."

" So," Beastboy said sadly. " What you're sayin' is that she's like me. I mean, having animal DNA and all."

" No," Jinx said firmly. " You are _not_ like her. You may have the beast within you, but you do not let it control you, you're more human than most regular humans. Viper is an animal, she follows the basic animal instincts with human intelligence which makes her very dangerous." She paused here to regain her bearings and then continued.

" Well, complications like those that were caused by Viper's mutation made it impossible for her mother to survive the birth. And Viper's father, who was so desolate in his loss of his wife, hated his daughter with a passion and treated her awfully.

" But, I stray from what I came here to tell you. Slade's plan for destroying Jump City. He plans, and is succeeding, in creating a new virus to infect the city, and who doesn't die, will become his slaves, for only he will ahve the antidote. With Viper's poison, this can be made into a reality and I did not know how to stop it on my own. I know the basic method of diluting the poison, but I have no idea for how to get into the complex, we were never allowed into the lab area of the base. So you see, I couldn't stand by and watch this insane scheme take place, because it will endanger my school and home as well as the rest of the city. So, who knows, maybe I'm not such a bad person after all."

If you all thought the silence at the beginning of the story was bad, well, this round topped it. Not one of the teens knew what to say, or even how to think of a solution to the dilemma now facing them.

The Titans were having a really bad couple of weeks, yes?

" Well," Robin said with no enthusiasm in his tone at all. " Let's try to think of something. Maybe we can come up with some plan in how to stop Slade and Viper." He rose from his seat and started to head towards his room, when he turned around and addressed Jinx. " You're welcome to stay here Jinx. I think Cyborg will be able to show you to a vacant room," he said with a yawn as he headed up the stairs and disappeared behind the doorway.

" Umm yes!" Starfire exclaimed suddenly as she jumped up from her seat. " I think I will also retire to the room of beds and think of how to solve this quandary." She suddenly went flying in the direction that Robin went, and disappeared behind the doorway.

" Hey," Beastboy said as he and Raven both got up and started to head towards their respective quarters. " Isn't Star's room the other way?

"You are so clueless," Raven muttered as she pulled Beastboy the other way to give her teammates some privacy. That left only Cyborg and Jinx in the living room, but that was remedied as the android led the witch to her temporary room, but we'll come back to them later.

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Starfire caught up with Robin and called out his name, determined to speak with him about what had occurred with them on the roof that evening. However, as he turned to face her, she found she had no words to speak to him with, and felt embarrassed as she just stared at him.

" Um, Robin," she began uncertainly.

" No," Robin said emotionlessly. " Don't Star. It's not worth it. What happened up there, well, I'm sorry it turned the way it did. I didn't mean to say those things, and I'm sorry."

" But Robin…"

" Let's just not talk about it, please Star?" Robin asked, the last part giving away the pleading tonein his voice that was so uncharacteristic of the Boy Wonder.

So surprised at the change in character in the boy-wonder, Starfire involuntarily closed the space between herself and Robin and reached out and stroked the side of his face. She murmured, " You are such a mystery." Then, realizing what she was doing, she pulled back her hand and started to fly down to her room to try hide the blush overtaking her entire face. Trying to act as if everything was normal, she shouted back to her leader, " Fare thee well Robin! I hope your dreams consistof pleasant thoughts, like of bottles of mustard and the same!"

Watching her go, Robin felt a horrible ache in his chest, one that begged for the alien's touch to have lasted a little bit longer. Sighing, so absolutely frustrated with himself, he trudged the rest of the way up to his room, knowing exactly of what kinds ofpleasant thoughts he would be dreaming about that night.

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" Well," Cyborg said in his loud, warm voice. " Here it is! I think it was gonna be Rae's room at one point, but that never panned out. I thought you might like it."

" I love it," Jinx said with a blush as he led her into the dimly lit room. It was painted in a deep purplish color, and the roof had splatterings of silver all throughout it, giving the impressions of a million stars winking at her. " It's a very, erm, magical room."

" Great," Cyborg said in his booming voice. He then looked at her and asked, " What made you come here Jinx?" I mean, you didn't seem to be listening to what I was saying the other week."

" No, I listened." Jinx answered, not looking at Cyborg as she unpacked her belongings. " I just didn't want to understand. I didn't want to consider the possibility of what you were saying ending up being true. Call it fear if you want, but that's what it was.

She then looked at him, and walked over to the mechanical man, closing the distance between them so it was only a few inches. " I was afraid of my feelings about you being true. I was afraid of you getting hurt in that fight the other week. But most of all, I was afraid of not being with you Cyborg, and I guess that is what ultimately drove my decision to come here and lay everything I had done on the line." She gave him an impish grin, relishing in the fact that he looked absolutely shocked at her confession. He then put her hands on his waist and said, " Besides, I never took any risks worth taking back there."

Cyborg, now very nervous at how close Jinx was to him answered, " And what kinda risks are we talking about?"

" This kind," she said as she put her hand behind Cyborg's neck and pulled him into a kiss. Now, this wasn't some fairy tale kiss where the sky lights up or where everyone does a double-take because they feel something amazing had just happened, but that didn't lessen this kiss any more. It was two people baring their feelings and insecurities to each other, and that made it beautiful. When the two broke away, Cyborg's head was spinning, and Jinx's spine was tingling, it was just one of those really good, non-awkward first kisses that only happen to the rare few, or the few with bountiful experience. Jinx smiled as she kissed Cyborg again, and as he kissed back it seemed that just for an instant, all their troubles and worries could be forgotten as only one thought ran through both of the lovebirds' heads.

'_ Now this is a risk worth taking."_

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**A/N: **Okay, so I obviously don't know how to writ a shorter chapter! Go figure! Very sorry for the delay, but I thank each and everyone of you readers who kept their patience w/ me, and didn't hunt me down w/ a pitchfork and torch!

Hope y'all liked it, didn't I promise that there would be some fluff!?? Oh, and keep the fairy tale reference in mind, it's gonna be important in the story later on! I'll try to get chapter seven out as soon as I can, so again, please by patient and I will get to the end I promise!!

Better yet I Girl Scout Promise!!!! Okayyyy… enough soda after 8;) Osco


	8. A Good Idea

**A/N: **Hiya, I'm actually on time for once! Osco is back in the game!!! I gotta say this first, I'm really touched by how much y'all reviewed for my last chapter! I personally didn't think it was my best, but I needed to get it out, so I kinda rushed it. Oh, and I have to respond to a couple of reviewers first as well:

First, **shadow929:** Well thanx, I liked her too. And already trying to guess my plotline are we? Well, I can't tell you anything because if I did, Gecko would kill me. She likes the plots to stay underwraps.

Next, **Gubba-Gubba**: Be just a little patient w/ me…I think you'll like this chapter;)

Finally, **JulesFire:** Wow! You just won the best reviewer reward! Yes, I did make up Viper, pretty much off the top of my head. I needed a new villain, my sister was complaining about how she's afraid of snakes, it just clicked. I'm happy you liked the background…seriously took me 5 minutes to come up with it. Oh, and yes I though that Spidey moment fit perfectly…as Cap. Jack Sparrow would say, " I just couldn't resist mate."

Okey dokey people, here we go!

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Chapter 7: A Good Idea 

It's amazing isn't it, how when faced with a horrendous situation, the mind can't seem to come up with a single idea. It is like a permanent brain freeze, which lasts only a second. You think, and think, and just for a change in pace you think some more, and come up with nada.

Ahren thinks I'm being silly, when I freak out over not having a plan; he says it is always better to improvise because in a plan, something will always go wrong. Which, I suppose is correct. But, isn't it fantastic when an idea, a simple but flawless idea, is borne from those very same frustrations that plagued the mind before? That only seems to happen with a formulated plan, not some all-or-nothing, last minute strategy. And, if you notice, it is always the ones you least expect to come up with the idea that actuallypull it alltogether.

………………………..sigh…………………………….

I really am getting sick of these stupid recordings. Maybe it's time we aid the Titans, for they surely need it right now……….

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It had been three days since Jinx's arrival at the Tower, and our heroes were no closer to coming up with a solution than the possibility of pigs flying out of Beastboy's butt. Each one of them had poured their efforts into some kind of plan or formation, but none were shown to work if actually put up to the test. It was discouraging to say the least, and it resulted in Robin secluding himself in his room so he could 'brainstorm'. The only thing that lessened the mood in the Tower was Cyborg and Jinx's new romance. But, even that proved to be vexing to the others, particularly Starfire.

She and Robin were still on rough terms, and it was starting to chip away at the alien's optimistic attitude. And seeing Cyborg and Jinx together, just proved to be a dose of reality that she couldn't handle at the moment. It showed her what she wanted more than anything in the universe, but would never seem to have with Robin.

Gosh, the drama of the teenage superhero!

However, the two lovebirds did not just affect Starfire, they also started to affect the other female member of the team. And at the present time, all the distractions her feelings were taking her through, were making it awfully hard to meditate. That is where we start off now…

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Raven was up on the roof again, which had become a vacant area due to the rift between Starfire and Robin, trying to meditate but was having no such luck. Her darn emotions kept getting in the way!

' It's just because Cyborg and Jinx are kissing and hugging at every possible moment lately,' Raven thought to herself. ' That's the only reason. Nothing more.'

" Uh, Hiya Raven," a voice interrupted, startling the gothic girl and causing her to send a bolt of energy whizzing out towards the sea. It wouldn't have been so embarassing if it wasn't who Raven knew it was.

" I just kinda wanted to talk ya know?" a timid looking Beastboy said as he walked over towards her. " I mean, everyone else in the Tower is being weird. Robin is turning into a hermit, Star isn't even trying to cook her nasty food, and Cyborg can't seem to get a breath to play video games because he's trying to suck the face off his new girlfriend."

The last comment made Raven start to laugh, not because it was terribly funny, but because it was what she had been thinking for the last three days. Beastboy, looking utterly bewildered by the fact that Raven was actually laughing at his comment, gave her a questioning look to express his confusion.

" It's nothing Beastboy," Raven said once she was able to get in a breath. " I just really agreed with that last statement."

Beastboy gave her his trademark smile and said, " So, you think I'm funny now uh? Well let me dazzle you with my wittiness and-"

" Don't push it BB," Raven replied, back to her monotone self. Beastboy shrugged and sat next to Raven on the roof. The two just sat there for a while, both just enjoying the calming breeze that blew across their faces, like a butterfly's wings brushing them so gently, that it eased away the anxieties of the previous weeks. Eventually, Beastboy stole a glance at Raven and asked, " So, do you think that Star and Robin are gonna make up?"

" Couldn't tell you," Raven answered as she stared across the sea. Then, turning her face towards Beastboy she continued with, " But if I know one thing, Robin is the most stubborn guy I've ever met. I hope he realizes that before he causes more damage to Star than he already has."

" It's because of that stupid Viper chick," Beastboy answered angrily, his voice sounding more mature as he continued. " She's making all of us bug out, but Rob most of all. Its like, she knows more about him than we do, and that freaks him out."

Raven stared at Beastboy for a moment, amazed at the clarity of his observation. She thought she was the only to spot that little detail.

" Well," she answered with a sigh. " She does have a connection with him that we don't. And I'm pretty sure she's attracted to him, as gross as that is. It isn't like how Star is attracted to him though," she added hastily as she saw a disgustedlook spread over the changeling's face. " It's more animalistic, carnal I suppose. I guess that proves Jinx's theory on her being half animal."

" Yeah," Beastboy said heavily. He wasn't comfortable at all knowing that their foe was more like him than anything else. It made him feel dirty, like they was a spot on his skin that he couldn't quite clean off, no matter how much he scrubbed. It also didn't help that he had an episode that caused him to become more animal than human, and had hurt his friends because that was what the instincts flowing through his head told him to do. So, all in all, he didn't feel so hot at the present.

Raven sensed this, and wrapped a comforting hand around the boy's, offering any strength she had to the person who occupied most of her thoughts. She forced him to make eye contact and said, " Don't ever think you are like that creature Beastboy. _Because you're not_! You are one of the kindest people I know, you have your moments as do we all, but don't let that even suggest to you that Viper is more akin to you than one of us. You showed compassion to me when the whole Malchior incident happened. You demonstrated strength with your decision about how to deal with Terra. You proved your goodness when you forgave her in the end. Don't ever think you aren't human Beastboy because you are! _You are…_" She hadn't even notice as she began to cry, startling Beastboy so much that he gasped. He had never seen Raven show this much emotion before, not even after the battle with the dragon that had deceived her. Before he knew what he was doing, he enveloped the purple-haired girl into a hug, and was amazed at how small she actually was. She never seemed that small to him before, when she was fighting off villain and such; she always displayed such intensity when she fought, that she seemed larger than life to him.

He saw now that she was still just a sixteen-year old girl who had insecurities and weaknesses just like everybody else. She was _human_, and so was he.

They simply stayed like that, taking comfort in each other's embrace before they both blushed a little bit, and pulled away slightly, but just enough to see their counterpart's face. The changeling was amazed that Raven had trusted him enough to open up to him so much, it was like she had turned a full circle and...

Beastboy finally broke the silence between them saying with a strange look on his face, " I think I just came up with an idea." The very air around him seemed to be cackling with anticipation. " It just hit me, _it's so easy,_and I think it's called an epiphany? What if, what if we attacked Slade's compound with a different type of assault plan. One that never stopped moving, one that was continuous in providing a distraction for two people to get inside the base and shut down or turn off or whatever the virus thingy?"

" What?" Raven asked confusedly. " Nothing moves continuous Beastboy, everything finds an ending point somewhere."

" What about a circuit plan?" Beastboy asked giddily, that mischievous spark back in his eye.

" I don't see how tha-" Raven began when she suddenly realized what the green teen was talking about. But, it was so simple, yet so ingenious, she wondered why they hadn't thought of it sooner. A smile began to spread over her features when she suddenly kissed an unsuspecting Beastboy in her emotional rampage happening inside her. It is needless to say the green boy was surprised, but it didn't take him long before he was ardently responding to the gothic girl. It was like a huge tidal wave of emotions came crashing down all at once, for both had wanted to feel the other's touch in this way for quite a while now. Beastboy pulled her closer to him, and the two "made-out" passionately for a whopping twenty minutes (00)before they both broke away, to tired to carry on. There was that awkward moment between them before the both smiled sheepishly. And then suddenly, Raven started to giggle.

" I've been wanting to do that for a while now," she said happily for once. " I always felt something there with us, but never wanted to explore it." She suddenly reverted back to her calm self. " I don't know how this will affect my powers though, and I can't endanger you or the team if they get out of control."

" Then how are you supposed to live Rae?" Beastboy asked, feigning a cross tone. " Life is full of risks and choices. I'll help you with your powers if they get wacko, but I can't go back to being how we were. Not after that." He gave her a look that spilled his heart out to her and continued, " I'm not going to say 'I love you' because I don't think I do. But, maybe if we give this thing a shot, that word will just happen to both of us."

Raven entwined her hand with Beastboy's and asked, " When did you get so smart BB?"

" I don't know," he said with a laugh. " I've been fighting against it for years, but I guess I finally lost in the end!"

They both were silent for a minute when Raven leaned in to kiss again, causing Beastboy to whisper, " Should we go tell the others aboutthe plan?"

" Let them wait," she answered in a husky voice before they both lost themselves in their caresses and kisses as the Sun began to rise.

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While the two on the roof exposed their feelings to each other, Starfire was sitting quietly be herself in the kitchen when Jinx came in to get a soda. She saw the alien looking miserable and decided to try to play the big sister role and cheer up the sad redhead. She walked over to the table, sat herself down, opened and took a sip of her soda, and cast a glance towards Starfire.

" So Star," Jinx began, already grasping that she was in way over her head here. " How you been? Haven't seen you too much since I've been here. Is it because I'm, you know, me?"

Star shook her head slowly, heaved a sigh, and answered quietly, " It has nothing pertaining to you friend Jinx. I simply have a plate filled with a large amount excess."

" Uh, do you mean you have 'too much on your plate'?"

Star laid her head on the cool, kitchen table and mumbled a yes to Jinx, fighting back the tears that wanted to break free. It seemed that everything she did lately, was cause for distress, as if she didn't think she was good enough for something or someone. Jinx rubbed the back of her neck in nervousness, not having any idea on how to console the desolate girl.

" Umm," she began as she awkwardly patted Starfire on the head, after all, she was new to the camaraderie thing the Titans had already established. " There, there. It'll be all right, I'll teach you some slang terms."

" Arg no!" the alien princess shouted out so unexpectedly it made Jinx jump and fall off her seat. Starfire, now quiteembarrassed of her outburst immediately helped Jinx up off the floor and glided out into the front room. Jinx, who was now rubbing her butt instead of her neck, followed her out into the room determined to find out what was causing the erratic behavior.

" Okay, Star," Jinx began with a littleedge to her voice. " You have to tell me what's wrong because if you don't, I'm afraid it's going to drive you nuts! It can't be so bad that you can't tell me."

Starfire was silent before she answered, and even when she did, she continued to stare out the huge window over the sea, much like another Titan up on the roof. " How do you humans comprehend love?" Starfire asked softly.

Now, Jinx may have been expecting a lot of responses to her question, however, that was not one of them.

" What?" she asked, her voice cracking with an uneasy timbre.

" You are human yes? How do you comprehend love?"

" Well," the sorceress began slowly. " I've never been in love before, so I don't really know. But, I guess you can tell when you start to notice little tidbits and details that you didn't notice about a person before."

" An illustration please," Starfire mandated.

" I don't know," Jinx said tiredly. " I guess…okay like when you start seeing that a person makes little noises when they've eaten something they like. And, then you realize, that little noise means more to you than, I don't know, food or whatever.

" I guess it's starting to love everything about that person, their strengths, their faults, their little idiosyncrasies, in addition to their physical qualities. It's by no means absolute, but it is pretty intense."

" I do not understand," Starfire said vulnerably. " That is not the way of my people. Why would you love someone in secret, it makes more sense to just speak your thoughts out loud for all to hear."

" Why do people lie?" Jinx countered immediately. " Why do people start battles where it is known that people will die? Why do people smoke even? I'll tell you why they do Starfire, it's because it's just human instinct. We are threatened by our insecurities and we combat them with what we believe to be the smart choice. Is it right? Sometimes it is, but other times it isn't. It's a defense mechanism, us humans aren't as strong emotionally as you tamaraneans. I don't think it's in our nature to be."

The two girls sat in silence for a while when Jinx asked, " All this is over Robin isn't it?"

Starfire nodded her head mutely, unable to muster the energy to reply.

" I could tell. It was all over your face the night I came here, and it was all over _his_ face when I approached him in the park. Well, Star if you are in love with bird-boy," Starfire shot a repugnant look towards Jinx after that comment. Jinx just let it slide, happy that she finally got some emotion out of the alien. " Then I suggest you tell him how you feel. But, don't be surprised if he lies."

Starfire then looked very confused asking, " What do you mean?"

" You'll know soon enough," Jinx answered, starting to leave the room and find Cyborg. " Just don't give up on that kid okay? I think everything will work itself out in the end." And, with that, she left the room, leaving Starfire alone to deal with the maelstrom of thoughts whirling around in her psyche.

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" Oh my lord will it ever end!?" Viper muttered to herself as she made her way down to the lab in Slade's underground 'secret' base. " Well, not so secret anymore is it Slade?" She yelled down the hall, socompletely tired of the bickering between the Hive headmaster and her own master. She really didn't see the rational behind their arguing.

It had been discovered two days prior to this morning that the sorceress, Jinx, had been discovered as missing, and then later as someone who had betrayed them, and gone off to join the Titans. It was a pretty devastating blow to the 'bad-guys' side, mainly because she had been into the base, and knew how to get there. While Slade and the headmaster discussed what kind of person Jinx was in despicable language I won't repeat for you here, Viper was mildly impressed with the impish girl. She had managed to one-up them, and had done it right under their noses.

As she entered the lab and put on her white coat, Viper grumbled to herself, " And now are you going to tell them all about little old me Jinx? All about how I'm some kind of animal freak, and all about my history? Fat lot of good it'll do. I wonder if she even knew I planted that information in her for the sole reason in case she did decide to join up with the Titans. Now, they'll feel as if it is their duty to try and 'make my good' while I pummel the living shit out of them," she ended the last part with a cold cackle that sent goose-bumps down the spine of anyone who was listening down the hall.

She started to work on her, 'child' as she liked to call it, or better known as an updated version of the deadly Ebola virus. It had the same effects as the original, bleeding eyes, high fevers, boils, and death, but it worked much quicker, and more painfully, due to her own added venom. She studied the almost clear liquid and shuddered at the thought of how many people would die horrific deaths at the hand of Slade, but then only to live by his mercy; he had created an antidote, again, based on Viper's venom, but also on her DNA.

She didn't necessarily dislike the plan, but she thought it was a little to dirty for her liking. She always liked to give her opponents a chance to live, not kill them with their backs' turned. But, she would go along with Slade's plan, which had been bumped ahead of schedule owing to the fact that Jinx had deceived them, and try to execute it as best she could. Although, secretly, she knew it wouldn't work. The Teen Titans would come up with some sort of configuration that would be powerful enough to overcome the Hive security placed all around the outside of the base.

But, she really didn't give a damn about any of that, Slade could go screw himself for all she cared, all Viper wanted was one little fight, one fight to repay the legendary Batman for taking away the only father she ever knew.

She chuckled to herself as she began running diagnostic tests on her different vials of the enhanced Ebola and said, " Get ready Bat, the snake is about to eat your little birdy."

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**A/N: **And I'm done w/ this chapter! Yes!!! It's really amazing I could get this written when I had to write my screenplay for drama. I am the queen of multi-tasking right now! One more chapter of the introspective stuff, and then BAM! The action is going to be so incredible it'll be awesome! That'll be a really long chapter too, so it may take me a little bit more time to write it. And I thought I'd add the Viper scene so you all don't think I've forgotten her.

Oh, I forgot to mention up there to JulesFire, I LOVE THAT SONG TOO!!!!! I can listen to it over, and over, and over!!! Plus, it fit absolutely perfect in my mind; that is actually my favorite chapter of this fic so far.

And one last note, if any of you are confused as to what the Ebola virus is, It's the virus in the movie Outbreak, the one with Dustin Hoffman, and the monkey who bites people and makes them sick. The disease is pretty bad, and it is an extremely painful 3-day death. If you want more info, look it up or watch the movie, because I don't think you want a research report as your next update!;)

Well, I gotta go to my friends wrestling meet, it's her senior night tonight and I made her a sign! Bye!

Osco


	9. We are the Same

**A/N: Again, just changing the chapter so there are no song lyrics...I hate you **

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Chapter 8: We are the Same

I've come to realize recently that it is not a very good idea to lie to girls. Well, it's really not a very good idea to lie to anyone, but it is thrice as worse to do so to a member of the female population of the planet. Even if it is something that doesn't seem like it would be a huge deal, just don't. Nothing ever turns out the way you might envision it.

It all really comes down to a matter of trust. If you can't trust someone because they lie, or because they hide truths, or they don't act like themselves then how can you expect to be their friend and give them your trust?

So, let me start now. My name is Ahren, I'm eighteen years old, and I grew up with my foster family, the O' Brians. I took their last name because they accepted me, even with all my 'gifts'. I met Lily two years ago, when my family traveled to Ireland in search of…something…I don't really know what. She changed my world, and she left her family to come back to the states with me. She is seventeen, but turns eighteen in three months.

Maybe, I don't know maybe, you can trust us now too. Because, the tides are changing, and the storm is about to hit…

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All the Titans were crowded around the small table in the common room, waiting anxiously to hear this plan that Beastboy seemed to come up with only a few hours ago on the roof. It still confounded the majority of them, after all, not a single one amongst them could come up with an idea for the past three, no wait four, days. And frankly, anyone of the Titans would listen to any kind of strategy at this point in the game, with the threat of a super-deadly Ebola strain about to be unleashed on the city any day now.

" So," Cyborg began, not being able to stand the anticipation any loner now. " What is this brilliant plan BB came up with?"

Raven, not Beastboy, was the one to answer to everyone's surprise saying, " It's actually pretty simple. A circuit plan. A never ending circle of attacking, moving, and switching that makes it very hard for the enemy to target any one area or person. You see, it would start off with two of us, let's say Beastboy and Cyborg, attacking from the ground, letting Starfire enter and bomb the ground with bolts and then land on the opposite end. Then, Beastboy would swoop up to where Star had been, and I would take his place. Cyborg would steadily weave his way over to Star, and they would switch places, while myself and Beastboy switch places.

"All of this would have to be done while we kept up an offensive, and the switching of places would just continue, in the path of a circle. When the enemy is worn down, the circle will shrink, and the switching will be more frequent.

" If you, Robin and Jinx are wondering why you aren't mentioned in the plan let me tell you why. You two are going to sneak into the base and get rid of that virus."

" Okay, and why did you pick us?" Jinx asked calmly.

" Because you said you knew how to nullify the virus, and the best hacker here is Robin," Raven answered back. " It was the logical choice."

The other three were looking from Raven to Beastboy back and forth, trying to understand why they hadn't been able to come up with something so simple. For you see, they had never really done a plan that was meant to act as a divergent from an infiltration assault, they usually just did full-on attack, or sneak in approach that led to a full-on attack. This would catch the Hive security completely off-guard, and it was so simple that it didn't require hours of training to perfect. It was a simple circuit work-out, nothing more complicated than that.

" So," Robin said, breaking the silence. " This plan is meant to be distraction for Jinx and myself?"  
Raven nodded her head in concurrence.

" Well, I gotta hand it to ya BB," Cyborg said with a grin spreading across his face. " I think this just might work. We all have the endurance to pull it off, and I'm pretty sure we have enough drive to motivate us, but that security is going to be hard to crack. Do y'all think we should call in the Titans East for back-up?"

" No," both Raven and Robin said at the same time.

" If we call in anymore than usual, Slade and the Hive headmaster will know something's up. It will work fine with the six of us."

" Besides," Robin added. " They have their own problems to deal with in Steel City, they don't need to come to our rescue unless it's an emergency. Raven's right, with the six of us here, we can deal with this."

" So," Beastboy addressed the group. " Is it a 'Heck yes!' or a 'It totally blows!'?"

Starfire beamed at the green teen and said, " I vote for the 'Heck yes!' choice friend Beastboy. It is a most admirable plan."

One by one all the Titans canted their heads forward in agreement, and decided that it would probably be best to attack the next day, in the afternoon instead of the night hours.

Everything always happens at night with these kids!

After some pre-plan discussions, map layouts, and final briefings of assignments, the Titans decided that they probably needed to get some sleep for the next day's events. But, not very much sleep got done that night.

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Yea sure, they were supposed to be sleeping, but making out was so much more fun to the couple who solidified the idea of 'opposites attract'. Besides, Beastboy found it much more adventurous being in the room he had been forbidden to enter for the past year and a half. Things were starting to heat up, when a loud booming sound on the door ruined the romantic vibe in the couples' moment.

Muttering angrily to herself, Raven got off her bed, and walked over to her door, promising that whoever it was have a good reason for spoiling her and Beastboy's kissing session.

" Alright," she said moodily as she opened the door. " What the hell do you wa-"

" Hey Rae," Cyborg said as he pushed the door open and led himself and Jinx into the room, the latter with a nervous grin on her face. " You and BB have time to talk? Yes? That's great."

As he seated Jinx and himself on the carpet, he gave Raven no opportunity to answer, so she angrily shut he door, turned up her lamps, and seated herself next to Beastboy on her bed directly across from the other two.

" What do you wish to discuss?" the goth asked emotionlessly.

" Umm," Jinx began slowly. " I think we may have a bit of a problem with Robin and Starfire."

" Good job," Raven said sarcastically. " Give the girl a prize for guessing the most obvious issue in this tower. Tell us something we don't know."

" Okay," Jinx answered testily. " It's going to cause one of them to kill themselves if it isn't solved soon."

" No it won't," Raven said, this time normally with a hint of sadness in her voice. " They'll just be miserable. Neither of them is weak enough to commit suicide."

" She didn't mean physically Raven," Cyborg answered. " She meant mentally. Like, lets say in the battle tomorrow, they just carelessly don't block an attack, because their mind is being eaten away from this Catherine and Heathcliff esque love situation. They could get seriously hurt Rae."

" No," she answered calmly. " Because as long as they both think about protecting the other, neither of them will let their guard down. Trust me on this guys, I've known and been trying to remedy this circumstance for a while now."

The other two looked at each other, and then both nodded their heads, trusting in their teammate's assessment.

" I just wish we could do something," Jinx said forlornly. " They both like each other so much, they would both feel better if they just let the other know how they felt, I mean, everybody else knows."

" And that is what freaks Robin out Jinx," Raven quipped automatically. " You don't know him as well as we do, stuff like that just really freaks him out. He's just compulsive like that."

" She's right Jinx," Cyborg put in. " That kid is the most stubborn ass I've ever met, that's including the bad guys!"

" And Star's to emotional to understand that fact about Robin," Raven ventured even further. " He's perfect in her eyes, he doesn't have fear our weaknesses, and that is why she is acting so repressed."

" I just wish we could help," the sorceress said quietly.

" We have to let them figure it out on their own," Cyborg said with a small grin, as Raven nodded. " They're both pretty strong individuals, I think they can handle it."

As the three Titans sat there in contemplation, the one who was silent the whole time suddenly said, " Wait, ROBIN AND STAR LIKE EACH OTHER?" Beastboy grabbed his head and added, " Why don't I ever know these things?"

Raven, Jinx, and Cyborg looked at each other, then at Beastboy, then back at each other before the two latter burst out laughing and Raven just put a comforting hand on Beastboy's head.

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Starfire floated down the hallway, not really caring where she was going, just certain that she wouldn't be able to sleep. She finally found herself in the common room, and low and behold who was there…if you guessed Robin, you were right. He also couldn't sleep, he was starting to wonder if he had insomnia.

Starfire, on a dare of bravery, piped a quiet, " Good evening friend Robin."

Well, even though she was quiet, her question made him jump visibly in his chair, which caused the chair itself to swivel around, and launch him off it onto the ground. He pushed himself up, hands and face red with embarrassment, and answered, " Uh, good evening Star, you startled me. Why are you up this late, you should be sleeping."

" I could not," the alien answered sitting on the large couch nearby Robin. " and it appears that you could not as well."

Grinning slightly, he answered, " Well, uh, yea. I guess not."

" Might I inquire why?"

Robin, rubbing the back of his neck, shrugged his shoulders as he took a seat next to Starfire on the couch. " I dunno."

" Oh," she replied shyly, glad that Robin was sitting in nearby proximity once again. " Might I inquire another question friend?"

" Sure."

" Who was the e-mail from that you were reading?"

Robin hesitated, but not wanting to cause the rip to grow any larger he answered evasively, " It's from an old friend. Someone I knew in Gotham."

" The man who is a bat?" Starfire asked, assuming he was talking about his old partner before he came to Jump City and formed the Teen Titans.

" Sort of," Robin replied, not wanting to give his mentor's identity away. " I was talking to the person he is when he isn't Batman."

" What do you mean?"

" Like when he doesn't have the mask on," Robin supplied.

" Oh," Starfire said, now new questions swimming to her mind. " He is not always Batman?"

" Nope," Robin answered simply. He didn't have a clue on how confusing this was sounding to the alien sitting next to him.

" Then are you not always 'Robin'?" she asked innocently. " For you also wear a mask."

Robin didn't look at her when he said, " No Star, I'm always Robin. The person under this mask died a long time ago. He doesn't exist really anymore.

" Is that why you are now Robin then?" Star asked. " To not be who you were? All of this is very confusing Robin. Why would you not be who you really are?"

He shrugged as he continued to stare out the window at the ocean, now a calm soothing presence, something so very different from his mind.

" It's not a big deal Star," Robin lied to his companion. " I just assumed this name to avenge someone who went through a lot at a young age, and I just kind of kept the name. It doesn't make me any different."

' But it does, because you are hiding friend,' Star thought to herself as she nodded her head and forced a smile. " Why did you leave Gotham the Robin? Were you not happy there fighting crime?"

" It had nothing to do with fighting crime Star," Robin said with a laugh. " Batman and I just had a couple of arguments concerning certain issues. So, I told him I wasn't going to join the League or anything, that I'd start my own team, so, I did."

He was silent again, that same brooding, painful expression passing over his face.

" Besides," he said. " There were some memories there that I didn't want to connect with anymore."

" Oh," Starfire said, not wanting to probe further and upset the person she wanted to amend feelings with. The two secret keepers sat silently, not wanting to move and risk not spending anymore time with the other.

Starfire finally decided to tell him some of her secrets after some time had passed, and sleepiness threatened to overcome her. " My family is dead as well Robin. All except my sister, who you know, I am not affable with. My father, mother, and younger brother all died in a well-executed assassination plot, that only myself and Blackfire escaped because of Galifore. He used to be the captain of the Palace guard, my father's personal body-guard, but afterwards, he surrendered his position and became my _k'norfka. _Blackfire was older and did not wish to have one, so she did not. So, you see, you are not alone Robin, we have all lost people who are important to us, _we are all the same_, if you look past external appearances," Starfire couldn't go on, mainly because tears had started to flow down her delicate features, causing her to shake.

Before Robin even knew what he was doing, he wiped her tears away, and enveloped her in a hug. Not a friendly hug at all, a hug that was meant to be shared only by people who you loved. In that moment, Starfire never felt so complete, and Robin became Richard Grayson again.

In that moment, everything seemed obsolete except the two extrodinary individuals who were hugging in their common room.

However, the moment did end, and Robin became the person who hides behind his mask once more. But, Starfire still felt happy for she believed that they both felt a spark in that moment. As the two broke apart, Starfire knew that she would never have a better chance to ask Robin what Jinx had advised, for she was now suddenly tired.

" Robin, I have to know one thing," she said as she started to close her eyes and rest her head on Robin's shoulder. " Do you feel the emotion know as love for me or not."

" I don't think you understand what you're asking me Star," Robin began, so off balance he didn't even know what to really say. She had asked the one question he was not prepared for, and he was suddenly terrified. " We're to young Star, I don't think I even know what love is. I do care about you a lot though, like I do all the Titans. But I…" he suddenly noticed that she had fallen asleep and he stopped his lie right there.

He gently picked her up, and carried her up to her room, and laid her down on the bed. As he tucked her in, he ran a hand down the side of her face, softly enough for her not to know he was there and whispered, " I want to tell you the truth, but I can't Starfire. I can't. Maybe someday I'll be as strong as you…but not tonight." He then kissed her lightly on the cheek and then got up and left her room, shutting the door smoothly as he left.

When the door shut, Starfire lifted her hand to her cheek and touched the area that her soulmate, for that is what she believed he was now, had just kissed. And she knew then what Jinx had said.

" I love you Robin," She whispered out loud as she drifted off into a peaceful dreamland full of wonder for once in a great while.


	10. Through the Eyes of a Snake and a Bird

**A/N: **Well, here it is guys, all the stuff that as been happening is all leading towards this one moment. One battle, multiple answers, even more new questions.

Alright people, there are going to be serious issues in this one, so if any of you guys don't like that in an action chapter, or if any of you get offended by what those issues are, I apologize ahead of time. But don't start fretting, they'll be plenty of action in here of all y'all!

I have nothing else to really say, I hope you guys like it.

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**Chapter 9: Through the Eyes of a Snake and a Bird:**

…………………………………………but Ahren w-…………………………

………… I know Li-………… but what if…………………………………………….

" That doesn't matter! You saw it, I think we need to-"

" Do what? We promised not to meddle, besides, what if it's not true?"

" Yeah okay, When have they ever been wrong? It's your curse Ahren, they are never wrong."

" So, you truly think we need to help them now? This was a lot sooner than anticipated Lily. What if they're not ready to hear what we have to say, should we survive this battle?"

" The cost of not helping them will be much higher, you know that. That team, as strong as they may be, can't survive without him. He's their glue of sorts. Besides, I think they'll have to grant us the benefit of the doubt on our advice. After all, we will be saving that kid's life if-"

" It could have meant something else. What if it wasn't meant to be taken figuratively, but literally instead?"  
" For some reason, I don't think it was concerning something that would be on the Discovery channel. We have to go. We've waited in the shadows far to long."

" Uhmm, I guess you're right. Well first, we need to find-"

" Ahren! You left the recorder on! Don't shake your head, the red light is blinking, that means it's on! Do you know how fast these things go through batteries! I mean….look, there it goes."

" You're worried about batteries when someone could be dead in a few hours? I'll never understa-"

………………………………..static…………………………………………….

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Twister was incredibly excited today.

After all of his pain-staking studying, routines, practicals, tranings, and just about anything else you can think of, he had finally been promoted with in the Hive to a watch post, one of the most respected jobs in the entire Academy! He had always known his power to contort his body in weird shapes, henceforth being good at a game that gave him his name, would be of use to someone someday.

He was not the coolest kid in school, okay that was the biggest understatement of the century, he was probably the biggest loser in his entire class!

At least, that was what he was told all his life.

In grade school, a little boy by the name of Donavan Mitchell, Donny to his friends, discovered in gym class that he could twist his arm all the way around itself at least three times! As he tested those limits, he found it was not just his arm that could twist into odd shapes, it was his entire body. From his neck, to his ankles, Donny found that he had been born 'special' and decided to show all of his friends at school his cool, new talent. He did it during a game of Twister, and much to his astonishment, all of his friends did not show enthusiasm at his marvelous gift.

They showed repulsion.

They degraded him, calling him horrible names that won't be repeated here, beating him to see how much it would take to make him cry, and even abusing him in an even worse fashion. The teachers throughout grade and middle school did not help either. While they did not treat him with the maliciousness of his peers, those instructors treated little Donny with something that could prove to be far worse in the long run.

Indifference.

So, Donny's school life was not such a happy one, but the misery of it all was neither was his home life. For you see, Donny's father did not believe that having a metahuman for a son was that great of a thing. He despised it, adding onto poor Donny's troubles with enough verbal scorn and mockery to drive any other child into suicide, and with an alcoholic mother who was never sober enough to remember her own name, he didn't have any one to go to.

But Donny was not any kind of child, a point that a mysterious school called the Hive Academy made sure to make. An elderly woman had approached him one day during the first month of his freshmen year, in a place called high school where a person is punished for not having flawless skin, perfect hair, and a body to make the opposite sex go wild with desire. With his scrawny frame, greasy black hair, and splotched skin, Donny did not meet any of the expectations for anyone to even give him the time of day, so he was surprised to find out the woman was interested in him. She offered him a home, a school, and a place where he would be protected, and respected by his peers and teachers. She offered him a sanctuary, and he readily accepted.

On that day, Donny Mitchell ceased to exist, and Twister came into being.

So, now we focus back on the present where Twister is on patrol of the mysterious Slade's base. He had never felt so happy in all his short life, for he had been chosen to protect his school from anyone who would try to invade his sanctuary's benefactor's base.

As he was patrolling the West bay wall, in the middle of the afternoon mind you, he noticed something move in the alleyway shadows. You see, he wasn't assigned to this area at all, it was a waste site where it was unheard of any attacks would come from, but he had wandered there during his musings. So now he was very surprised to see six young, strangely clad teens sneaking up onto the base from this area. He knew it was those meddlesome Teen Titans, and he promised himself right there that he would sound the alarm and warn everyone of this assault as he raised a com-link to his mouth, eager to become the hero who had saved the base from Jump City's loyal defenders.

Unfortunately, he never got the message out. He was slashed through the throat from behind, feeling his own death come gurgling up his esophagus as his vision faded, and his legs buckled under him causing him to fall to the ground. He never got to say what he had wanted to say to all the people he was planning to kill for making his life miserable, so he died in an angry bitterness as someone no one would miss. And only one defiant thought went through his mind as his light was snuffed out from the world,

" _Fuck you!"_

And while poor Donny " Twister" Mitchell died in a pool of his own blood, with his throat open in a bloody pulp for all to see, a petite girl calmly wiped her blade clean of the dark stain as she looked out at the group moving ever so stealthy towards the base. She slid her sword back in her scabbard, and grinned a sadistic grin while she turned her back towards the invaders and the person she had just killed in order to ensure that the base would in fact fall to the Titans. For you see, if the base failed, then it was one step closer Viper was to sending Gotham's most famous vigilante a long, deserved gift.

A songbird's heart with a mask.

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To say the Hive was surprised at the sudden attack from the West Bay waste site would be an understatement. They were all bewildered beyond belief, causing the whole lot of them to stand frozen in place at the assault of starbolts, mini-bombs, and energy encased objects flew at them and completely took out the North bay wall. Some members recovered their wits long enough to try and put up a counter defense, but that was crushed as a blue beam shot at them, along with the same green starbolts earlier used to destroy the aforementioned wall. The two students in charge of defense, Gizmo and Mammoth, were stunned to see the Titans attacking in such an unconventional plan, not to mention the fact that it was 4 in the afternoon!

A few unknown students rushed forward to meet the onslaught, only to be met with a huge Gorilla where the green bolts had been coming from, and then to realize that those green bolts were again bombing the entire expanse of the base. Gizmo ordered their force cannons to be directed at the alien girl who was taking out the Hive defense/offense lines, only to find those orders revoked by the dark Titan, who had blown the cannons up from where the Gorilla had been with her dark energy.

As Mammoth attempted to lead Hive students against the two Titans stationed on the ground, his force was met with a rather large Tyrannosaurus Rex, who seemed to appear from the ground itself.

'He he,' Beastboy thought to himself as he wailed on the terrified pupils. ' Didn't even see me coming! To busy with Star's bolts to notice a green cat slink into your little party! Now, Raven should be switching with me right about…NOW!'

And, true to his word, the green dinosaur turned into an eagle, while the gothic girl dove towards the ground, warping into a dark bird and enveloping anyone near her into her suffocating depths. And, to top it all of, Cyborg and Starfire switched their positions with each other at that time as well; him by fighting his way through by sheer force, and her by a skillful weave move that caused the defending party to actually fire on themselves.

As Gizmo and Mammoth looked on helplessly at the carnage the Titans were causing, they were lost as to what they should next. They couldn't get a straight target on any of the teens, due to the fact they were switching every other minute! Their faces contorted into a fearful gaze as they saw Raven and Cyborg make a switch that caused him to be near enough to destroy the East bay wall with a sonic blast. It was official, the Hive was losing and the base would fall in a matter of hours. But, they both knew that if they turned and ran, Slade would hunt them down and personally flay them alive. So, they both just stood there and gaped at the destruction, hoping that when it was over they wouldn't be sent to jail for to long of a period.

And through all of this, they didn't notice a former member and a masked teen sneak into the recently decimated North wall bay, while the other four now worked on making the East wall bay just as pretty.

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" Let's see," Viper said to herself as she added another drop of her poison to one of her test tubes of her Ebola virus. " If I add anymore of my venom, will it make the recipient experience more pain. I just don't know. Why don't we test it out?" she asked her test subject, a terrified looking civilian who was tied to a chair. Viper had gone through quite a lot of testers, this man being her eleventh, and each new variation didn't seem to have the potency she was looking for.

" I really am sorry about this Mr. Morrie," Viper said, her voice missing any kind of pity. " But, you really shouldn't have decided to support your Teen Titans. Now," she said as she injected the poor man with her new virus, and the poor man started to bleed from the eyes and mouth. " Tell me how you feel."

" I think he is unable to answer your question Viper," a cold voice said from behind her.

" Well Slade," Viper said, not taking her attention away from her subject, for he had started to convulse with pain. " I wasn't counting in him to answer. If he did, that would've disproved this concoction's effectiveness. However, I believe I've finally found the right amount of my venom I need. Four point three drops exactly, fascinating really."

Slade was silent as he watched, with sick amusement, the unfortunate man die in excruciating pain. He then heard his communicator beep, looked at the message, and cursed aloud. He then picked up a microscope and threw it against the wall, shattering a good amount of expensive research equipment.

Viper turned around and gave Slade a cruel smile saying, " Whatever can be the matter master? Is your base under attack from those meddling little teenagers? Oh, whatever shall you do?"

" What the hell have you done?" Slade snarled as he grabbed Viper's collar and rammed her into the wall.

" I did what I needed to do _Slade,_" Viper spat right back at the criminal. " I made sure that I would have the chance to do what I've been meaning to do for three years."

Slade calmed himself, and lowered his apprentice to the floor. He shook his head at her, and started to walk out the door. When he noticed she wasn't following, he turned back around and asked, " What are you doing? You need to fix what you have helped obliterate."

Shaking her head in disgust, Viper turned back to her vials and started to make notes on her final toxin. She pointed to the door and said, " If you want to punish the Titans for what they are currently doing to your base, go right ahead. I'm not going. I need to finish up on the final version of the Ebola virus. I have no time for some trivial pursuit, especially one you yourself know we'll lose."

" You are part of this too you know," Slade replied. " There will be no escape for you if this base fails."

" I really couldn't give a shit Slade," Viper snapped back. " It'll be enough time for me to pay back the Bat for what he did," she then turned her head and gave Slade a wicked smile. " Oh, and don't worry about your precious ex-apprentice. I'll make sure he's taken care of properly, you just take care if his little alien whore."

Slade gave her a silent nod of approval, exited the room, and headed out towards the East wall to take care of business. Viper simply turned back to her notes and continued to write down her data. And she waited.

She waited.

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" BOOOYYAAAHHHH!" Cyborg let out as he continued to batter down the Hive security around Slade's base. He turned to look around his area, and saw that all of his team was kicking the living crap out of their enemy. It was a good day in his opinion.

" All right!" Beastboy yelled as he came up besides the robotic teen. " Do you see this? We're so kicking their butts! I knew my plan would work!"

The two were joined by Starfire and Raven as all the Hive members, thoroughly sick of getting their asses' kicked, all started to retreat away from the headquarters and head back towards their academy.

" We are victorious yes?" Starfire asked happily.

" Yeah," Raven answered back. " I think it's safe to say that. Good job Beastboy, you came up with a plan that actually worked."

" Yea," Cyborg added on, knocking a beaming Beastboy playfully on the shoulder. " It was bound to happen one of these days!"

As the four friends all basked in the light of their achievement, they didn't notice a man walk in silently behind them.

" Do not be so quick to celebrate Titans," a calm voice said from behind them. " You still have someone here willing to put you in your place."  
Any mirth the Titans felt was suddenly evaporated as they turned to face one of their familiar foes. Each one put on their game face, and got into a fighting stance, ready to face Slade once and for all.

" I see you all are ready to fight a battle you know you'll lose," Slade said with a mocking tone to his voice. " But, I must congratulate you on defeating my Hive protection. That is a feat unto itself. But, where might be your famous leader? A pity, I was looking forward to teaching him a lesson for quitting my apprenticeship."

" You will not harm Robin!" Starfire said angrily, her eyes glowing green and her fists becoming encased with green energy. " I will not allow you to!"

" My dear child," Slade said with a laugh, happy to have gotten a rise out of the girl. " What made you think I wanted to harm him? I merely wished to speak with him. However, that does not mean that no one wants to harm him."

" What are you getting at?" Raven asked coldly. She could tell that Slade was implying something, and she didn't like what it sounded like.

" If you all must know," Slade answered back calmly. " Your beloved leader is heading towards a fight that he will most likely lose. For my apprentice seems very intent on killing the poor boy. After all, she betrayed my base on order to make sure he and the traitorous witch got into the lab. So you see, your dear Robin will be dead with in the hour."

The Titans all stood frozen, shocked with dread that they had fallen into such a devious trap. Starfire, in particular, looked as if she wanted to die right there. But then, her sadness turned into anger, her fear into power, and her dread into determination as she turned back to face Slade.

" He will not lose," she said, her voice unquavering in her belief in their leader. " Robin will beat that foul _khlorbag _and will come out alive."

" And then what my darling girl," Slade answered back angrily, for she was proving to be annoying to him in her trust in Robin. " Then he will have to deal with me, and that is a fight he most definitely can't win."

Starfire glared back at the villain, and retorted back angrily, " Then I will make sure you are not there to damage him anymore!"

With that, she flew up, and launched herself at a very surprised Slade and hit him with a powerful starbolt that knocked him into the wall. After his initial surprise, Slade flipped up, pulled out his bo-staff, and ran at Starfire. The two hit each other with a good amount of force, one that sent the other three Titans sprawling to the ground to avoid the blast. Slade broke away from the confrontation, and hit Starfire with a blow that sent her flying into a different wall. He followed his attack, and pinned her to the wall with his staff.

" What do you really expect to accomplish girl?" Slade asked the alien princess, taunting her with his attitude. " Do you think that after this was over, he would suddenly feel the need to sweep you up into his arms, and tell you he loves you? If you thought that, then you are clearly deluded girl. He will never say those things to you, never! You will live your life knowing that he doesn't lo-"

He never got to finish his little speech, owing to the fact that Starfire had blasted him off with a strange green shield that none of the Titans had ever seen before. She then walked over to Slade, calmly mind you, her entire being encompassed in a bright emerald flame. She then lifted her hand, and formed a beautiful sword out of the flames, and lowered it to Slade's eye level.

" You lie Slade," the alien said, her voice in a resounding unearthly pitch, that captivated her other three team members, as well as their adversary. " I know what you say is not truthful. Perhaps Robin will not say what I want him to say, but that does not have anything to do with him not loving me. I know that he does, as I love him. I see that now, I was meant to help him, for he does not know how to tell me what he feels. He is lost, and I am meant to show him the way back to being human. Only you stand in the way, you and the Viper, and I will make sure that will not be the instance for much.

" So, what do you have to say now Slade? Tell me, are you frightened to perish? I have decided that you have plagued us for far to long, and I mean to end it now!"

Cyborg, Beastboy, and Raven watched in a stunned, stillness as they saw the usually positive alien raise the flaming emerald sword, transform into a fuming warrior, and swing down onto Slade.

Lesson learned here, never piss of a Tameranean.

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" I think the lab is down this way," Jinx said quietly as she and Robin made their way through the immense complex. They had been every which way, stuck in dead-ends twice, and almost caught by robots or sentries numerous times. In short, they were starting to get anxious, and it was evident in Robin's skeptical look towards the pink- haired girl as they started down a new passageway.

" You sure?" he asked bitterly. " Cause I feel as if we've been here before, oh wait, we probably have."

Jinx ignored her partner's rude attitude, understanding his impatience. They had not seen Slade at all during their time in the complex, which implied that he was somewhere outside, probably fighting the other four Titans. That thought was troubling to Robin, Jinx knew, so she forgave any of his caustic remarks that he made towards their situation.

The pair continued to meander down the corridor, when suddenly, they saw a secure door that conveniently said LAB on the panel. Robin, using his superb computer hacking skills, unlocked the door, and carefully pushed it open, drawing out his bo-staff as the two sneaked into the room. As the two entered, they saw thousands of vials secured to one of the walls, while all the other walls and desktops were covered with scientific paraphernalia.

Robin and Jinx walked further into the room and spotted the machine they needed to neutralize the virus, a device that would inject powerful antibodies into each test tube, and render the virus into the common cold. As they headed towards the machine, they both stopped dead in their tracks by the sight that met them across the room. It took all of their will power to keep from vomiting.

It was Mr. Morrie's dead, bloated, bleeding corpse. And, the small black-haired girl standing over him.

" Intriguing isn't it?" Viper asked as she turned to face the revolted two teens. " I finally found the perfect mix of my poison and the original Ebola virus to create my perfect disease. It causes quite a lot of pain…yes quite a lot…and as you can see, it is not a very lovely death. But, I really don't give a fuck about this anymore." She drew out her jade katana and started to advance towards the Titans.

Robin leaned over and whispered to Jinx, " Go and get rid of the virus, I'll take care of her."

" But Robin, I-"

" Go now!" he yelled as he shoved Jinx into the area with the neutralizer, and blocked a blow that Viper had swung at the two with his staff.

" Go ahead and get rid of it," Viper hissed out as she circled the Boy-Wonder. " I really couldn't give a shit what happened to it now!"

She launched herself again at Robin, who parried another deadly attack with his staff, but this time, he had his balance, and he countered with a round-house kick and a swing of his own.

The dance had begun.

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' Okay,' Jinx thought to herself quickly as her hands flew over the keyboard to initiate the defusing sequence. ' I need to do this quick, I don't know how much time Robin can give me. Wait, here is what I want!'

She found her solution, and started to rapidly fill the injectors with the antibodies via a tubing system. As the tubes started to diffuse the antibodies into the enhanced Ebola strain, Jinx turned her attention back towards the deadly dance happening all over the laboratory.

"Oh my…"

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The fight was beautiful, in a macabre sort of sense. The way the two rivals could block, strike, dodge, and leap against the other was truly exciting to watch. The sheer talent these two teenagers had was remarkable, mainly due to the fact that most grown fighters didn't have these sort of skills. However, that was not the most intriguing part of this battle.

" Why the hell do you hate me so much?" Robin asked angrily as he parried a vicious slash from the jade sword. " I never even knew who you were until you came here to Jump City."

" I don't hate you," she answered. " I hate what you stand for. You claim to be making some huge difference, you claim to be helping society. But tell me, do you help society when your actions against the 'bad-guys' create things like me! You killed him! People, things, like you killed the only father, the only family, I ever had. So, I intend to show all of you how I feel about you!"

" I never killed anyone," Robin answered angrily. " Maybe I wanted to, but I never did. Don't think you are the only one who has ever lost someone important, because you aren't! And that makes you weak, you are weak because you couldn't overcome your vengeful feelings over your loss."

" That's right," Viper said spitefully as she dodged one of his slashes. " You're fighting to avenge your poor family. The tragic 'Flying Graysons'. The poor heroes martyred to serve as a message to not forget paying your fees! And they left you, pitiable Richard Grayson, only nine years old, the poor little orphan taken in by the charitable Bruce Wayne. Or, should I say Batman?"  
Robin's masked eyes went wide as he asked, " How did you-"

" I made a point of finding out everything about the Bat," she spat back. " For you see, everything that happened that night ties into me. The crime lord I lived with, Jimmy Roth, he was part of the scheme that killed your parents, therefore creating Robin. And what do you think the Bat did when he found out what happened? He set Jimmy up, and killed him! All because of you! It's your fault I don't have a family anymore! But, I really don't want to punish you for killing Jimmy, no, I want to punish Batman. And I'll do that by killing you!"

The two's fight increased in intensity quite a bit after that, both feeling nothing but extreme anger for the other. One's was righteous, while the other's was vengeful.

" That's why you did all this?" Robin asked furiously. " To get some revenge? You killed all these people, and joined Slade to chastise my mentor! What the fuck is the matter with you!"

" No Robin," the femme-fatale replied. " What the fuck is the matter with the world? It's lacking compassion of any kind, it creates people like me. It is the reason all this is happening, so I'm going to get rid of the beings who are protecting this false world, the beings like you!"

" You can't play God Viper!"

" Umph, there is no such thing! What God? If there was a God, I would've had a home when I was five years old, instead of being left at an orphanage. I wouldn't have been abused, and raped in my foster homes by stupid drunks who were keeping me for some extra drinking money. My would-be father wouldn't have been killed in a devious revenge plot to avenge something he was sorry for! There is no fucking God!"

" I feel sorry for you Viper," Robin said has he leapt out of a slash, and lowered his staff. " I really do. You have so little faith in humanity that it's left you an empty shell of a person. I understand your pain, I really do, but I have no respect with how you decided to deal with those pains."

" Just shut the fuck up," Viper said angrily.

So the dance continued.

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" Just a little more," Jinx said to herself. " Come on, come on… YES! Robin, the virus is neutralized! Oh crap…"

She turned around to see that both Robin and Viper looked pretty worse for wear. She then destroyed all the equipment with her purple hex, so no one could create the virus again. Then, she turned back towards the fighting teens, and rushed over to try to help out Robin.

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Robin, hearing Jinx yell that the virus was harmless now, feigned a right tuck, and flipped over Viper to hit her from behind, sending her sprawling towards the ground. He then lowered his staff, and walked towards her, for she looked defeated on the floor, to tired by now to counter any attack.

" Do you hear that Viper?" he asked gently. " It's over. Your virus can't kill anymore than a common cold can kill. This whole mission you were on to punish humanity and Batman is over." He thought he saw something like sadness pass through her eyes, so he dropped his staff and held out his hands. " I'm defenseless now Viper. And I know the pain you are in, probably better than anyone else. We, the Titans can help you get through that pain. We can help you heal Viper."

She looked up at him, and slowly raised herself to eye level with him.

" Thank you," she said softly. She then moved almost to fast to be human, and jabbed Robin in the abdomen, her nails turning into knives and going straight through his body. " But, I don't need your help. I just need your heart."

She watched in glee as she saw Robin's shocked face become laced with pain, and she fell down over him as his legs buckled under him, not able to hold up his body anymore.

She pulled her hand out of his body, and stroked the side of his face saying, " You're dying Dick Grayson. You are. And as a good-bye present, I'll give you something to make the pain even better."

She then leaned down and kissed him, shoving her tongue into his mouth hungrily, and he to weak to stop her. The last thing he remembered before he succumbed to the darkness, was how sorry he was for Starfire, and how he hoped she would forgive him. Then, he knew no more.

Jinx, who had been frozen in fear, saw Viper pull out a knife, and lower it towards Robin's chest. She knew what was going to happen, but she couldn't stop it. She only felt grief, for Robin was almost dead.

" Sorry bird-boy," Viper said maliciously. " But, it's time for the Bat to get his present."

But she never did get to send that gift, for help decided to come at last.

And, what I leave you with, is a dying Robin, an astonished Jinx, and a terrified Viper as Jinx looked up from Robin and saw two figures in the doorway.

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**A/N: **Omigosh! Holy Moly, that took forever! I think at least half a day if you combine all the days it took me to write this! But, I think it turned out well. I liked it.

Wasn't Star so bad-ass! I thought so! Remember, review, review, review!

I gotta go, my mom wants the computer!

Osco


	11. Recountings and Redes

**A/N: **So, how are you guys? Good yes? That's great. Oh, you want to read what happens next? Well, I guess you can do that, I mean, if you really want to….

So Kidding! I know I tortured you guys w/ that ending, people were quite hysterical in their reviews…which by the way, thanx to all you guys. You're friggin awesome!

Some people actually wanted to know who the two figures were, I thought I had made that sorta clear, but I guess I was wrong.

You know the narratives at the beginning of every chapter, yea…okay then.

I'm probably killing you guys… MYUUHHHAAAHHHAAAA!

ahem Sorry about that, work sucked monkey balls today, I'm a little crazy right now…anyway...onto the show!

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**Chapter 10: Recountings and Redes:**

He couldn't see where he was. All around him was darkness, a suffocating emptiness that stretched as far as he could see. There was no one there, only his troubling thoughts, doubts, and memories to keep him company in his solitude.

He was alone.

He thought he heard voices coming from somewhere, but it was barely a whisper, like the wind rustling across the grass plains of the mid-west. There had been pain; he definitely could recall a vast amount of pain, but that had long forsaken him, leaving only a numbness that did not seem to lift. He wanted to give in then, wanted to leave and see his family again, for he missed them so much and didn't want to live with the pain inside anymore. He closed his eyes, and asked the darkness to take him away, take him to a place free from murder, guilt, rape, racism, hardship, and nightmares. A place where he could find peace on his own terms. It was so easy, all he had to do was…

" It's not your time yet."

He opened his eyes, and was lying down in the middle of a lush meadow, covered in lilacs, bluebells, and daisies. He pushed himself up to a seated position, and looked around, the emptiness still within him, but the numbness gone; it was now replaced with a sensation he hadn't felt in over seven years, contentment. He looked over at a large Willow tree, pushed himself up, and walked towards it. He then saw her, a beautiful girl with long black hair, and piercing blue eyes, a girl who looked strangely familiar, someone who looked like…

" Starfire?" he croaked out, suddenly remembering.

The girl looked over and smiled a very mischievous smile and gently shook her head.

" Nope, but you're close," she answered with a laugh in her beautiful voice. She continued dancing around the tree, singing a song in a language he didn't understand.

_" A Atar e thonetiel_

_Silivren penna le miriel_

_o menal aglar elenath_

_Na-Chaereds pelaen direail._

_Fain galan de remmin lais_

_O Linnathon le Ennorath?_

_Nef Aear, Ciare, si nef siadea_

_Medai jan nofa, es chaeris."_

Before he could ask what she was singing, she started singing in English, walking towards him all the while.

_" Bright Silverlarks and Golden Child_

_Whisked away upon the Dawn._

_Of Kind and Mercy Mild_

_To Stay the Evil's Spawn._

_Yet is this child of who I sing,_

_Of both Darkness and the Light?_

_He is the Seeker, Searcher, and will bring _

_Us to that Morning bright._

When she finished, she was near enough to hear his ragged breath, and could sense the confusion in his voice when he asked, " What does that mean?"

" It means what it sings," she replied with a wave of her hand. " It is rather haunting though isn't it? A child who can both create and destroy mankind. That is why you can't give in to the dark just yet, you have yet to accomplish your purpose. It will need you, you have much to live for."

" Do I? The boy asked sorrowfully. " What do I bring to the world besides pain, hardship, and destruction? How will my being on Earth solve any problems?"

The girl then wrapped him in a hug, one filled with warmth and hope only a loved one could give, and said, " What does your heart tell you? You will cause her pain, and will that help society? No. I don't believe so. You will find your peace, but help them find theirs as well."

The girl broke away, and looked straight into the boy's eyes, and he saw something about the girl he hadn't noticed before. Her eys were a deep ocean blue.

His eyes.

" Who are you?"

" Are you ready?" she asked as she touched the side of his face, and then, his whole world seemed to spin, and he lost himself once more. The last thing he saw was the girl's smiling face as she whispered, " I am called Bry'andr," then, he knew nothing more.

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He slowly opened his eyes, blinking like mad due to the harshness of the light to his eyes. His uncovered eyes he noticed right away. But, not to concerned about that, he tried to push himself up, only to have pain go lancing through his entire abdomen, the forgotten pain, causing him to grimace, and let out a small grunt. He laid back down, discerning then that he was most undeniably not in the lab he last remembered. As he tried to perceive his surroundings, he noticed he was not alone in the room after all, and instinctually started feeling around for his mask.

" Well, well," a feminine voice with an Irish accent said. " Looks like you finally decided to rejoin the realm of the living. About time, I was about to diagnosis you as comatose, but you beat me to the punch."

" Where am I rea-"

" Why," the girl interrupted as she turned around from her table to face him. " You're in the Titan Tower infirmary, where you have been for the past five days in a coma-like state. You have quite a lot of injuries, so I wouldn't try to move around too much. You're teammates have been awfully worried about you, and your name is Robin, if you happen to have amnesia."

It all came rushing back then, at least, all that he had been conscious enough to remember, and it gave Robin one hell of a head-rush. As he raised his hand to his head, he quickly cursed that idea, seeing to that the movement caused his abdomen to burn quite painfully.

" WHAT? OWW!"

" I told you not to move," the girl answered back, a grin sneaking onto her features. Robin could see her clearly now, the sudden pain jolting the rest of his body back to clarity. She was rather pretty, with long brown hair and a slim, delicate figure. And her eyes, well, Robin had never seen eyes such a vibrant shade of lavender before for Raven's eyes had a much darker shade.

She walked over to his bed, pulled up a chair, and sat beside him as she whipped out a stethoscope and pressed it against his chest to hear his heartbeat. He involuntarily shivered at the icy coldness of the round metal, and saw her smile grow more pronounced.

" Well," she said after a minute. " Your heartbeat is stable, and you still have feeling in your thoracic cavity! Which means, you are not paralyzed. But, you'll still have to stay still for a couple of days, and then, you still have to remain less active than usual as your body heals itself. Frankly, I'm surprised you even survived that kind of injury at all, abdomen usually equals death, but you are a rare exception apparently. To stubborn probably."

Robin continued to stare at her when he suddenly asked, " Umm, not to be rude or anything, but who are you? What happened? And where are my teammates?"

She gave a little peal of laughter, and rose from her chair asking, " My name is Lily, and would you care for some tea? I'm kind of having a craving, and Raven has the best tea."

Robin gave Lily a confused look and started to reply before she cut him off.

" What you are asking me to tell you could take awhile, so if we have some tea, I wouldn't have to leave in the middle of telling you from lack of liquids in my system. Besides, tea is a most calming concoction, one that I think can cure just about any type of problem you may have."

" Umm, sure I guess," Robin answered slowly, not really sure of this "Lily" character.

" Okay, I'll be back in a jiffy," she answered as she headed out the door, pausing for a second to fish inside her coat for something, and toss it to Robin.

As he watched her leave, he looked at what she had thrown at him, and found himself looking at his black mask, crumpled up in his hand.

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" Mmm, doesn't that smell great boy-o?" Lily asked as she reentered the infirmary, carrying two steaming cups of herbal tea. She took her seat next to Robin, now wearing his mask, and set his cup down on the table that was closest in proximity to him. He found that he could reach for the cup and not be blinded by sudden pain, so he took a sip, looked at the clock and saw it read 3:27 AM,and waited for his nurse to tell him what happened.

" So," Lily began after a few quiet moments of tea time. " I suppose I should start at the beginning, why Ahren and I even came to Jump City in the first place."

" Who's Ahren?" Robin asked immediately, treating Lily as if he was interrogating her.

" He's my boyfriend, and partner," Lily answered the demanding question. " And this is a recounting, not an interrogation session. Don't treat me as if I am a criminal or something. I'm your ally believe it or not."

He just looked stonily back at her, not betraying any emotion on his face at her reprimand.

Sighing, she said, " Oh forget it. Just please, let me tell you my tale without incessant interruptions. You will figure out who is who as it progresses."

Giving a silent nod of agreement after a moment, Robin relaxed and waved a hand to let Lily continue with her story.

" So," she said after giving the boy a glare. " I should probably start why we came here in the first place. You see, it all started about four months ago in Gotham, when Ahren and I were walking down an alleyway and saw a dark figure fighting off a bunch of hooligans…"

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Gotham, probably the most dangerous city in America, perhaps even the world, where some of humanity's scummiest creations live. It was renown as a dark, foreboding city, a place that was home to villains like: The Joker, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, and countless others. It also was pretty dirty a fact that Lily was beginning to support full-heartedly as she and Ahren strolled down a street for what seemed to be the fifth time.

" Ahren," the purple-eyed girl said exasperatedly. " I think that maybe, just maybe, we're lost. Or, at last going in circles."

" How do you know that?" a black-haired youth asked in response.

" Maybe because we've passed by that brothel at least four times already, going on five when we pass it in a few seconds."

" There are tons of bars in the city," Ahren defended. " How can you tell this is one we've passed by?"

" I think with a name like 'Busty-Topless Wenches'" she answered tersely. " It's probably the same one."

" Oh," Ahren said as he looked at the scandalous sign outside the bar, recognizing it immediately. " I guess you're right. Maybe we should ask for directions or something."

Lily waved her hand dismissively, feigning indifference as the couple continued to amble down the street in a less favorable part of Gotham City. As Lily looked at all the trash in the street, the prostitutes on the corners, and the smog rising of the street she wondered what on Earth they were doing there in the first place. I mean, she wasn't used to this kind of lifestyle or way of living, AT ALL.

" We are here because a trusted friend told us to find the well-known hero here," Ahren said. " He is supposed to help with something important, so we came here."

Lily gave her boyfriend a look and said, " I hate it when you do that. Reading my mind and all, it makes me feel like I have no personal thought."

" I didn't need to read your thoughts," Ahren answered with a laugh. " It was practical projected into my head! Besides, I don't think I could make you have no free thought even if I tried. Anyway, what's so bad about Gotham? There are worse places. I know you know all about human nature and western civilization, so don't pretend like you live that far disconnected from the rest of the human race."

" Just because I understand it," Lily replied with a smirk. " Doesn't mean I have to agree with it. And yes, I may live close enough to the world to know these things, but I do not fully comprehend why people disrespect the Goddess or whatever deity they believe in so recklessly."

" Yea well," Ahren responded with a shrug. " That's human nature for you at it's finest. I mean we…hey…"

Ahren stopped walking, and looked down an alleyway to see a lone, dark figure fighting off a horde of gangsters. The man seemed to be holding his own, but Lily saw one of the hooligans sneak up behind the man, and raise a crow bar over his head to smash the man's head in. She gripped Ahren's arm, and pointed his attention to the scene unfolding before them. He lifted his arm towards the gangster, gathered his energy and focus, lifted the man off the ground, and fling him across the alley onto the street. The man, a tall, menacing stature dressed from head to toe in black, and wearing a mask with pointed ears on his head, finished off the gangsters, now a mound of unconscious men, and turned his attention to the two teens. He knew that he was facing children with gifts, for the boy's brown eyes were still glowing in a faint white glow.

As the police arrived, the man directed them to the helpless thugs, and made his way to Lily and Ahren, questions surfacing in his mind.

" Hello," the boy said congenially. " I'm Ahren O'Brien, and this is Lily. And I think we came here to seek you out, you're Batman right?"

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" You should've seen the look on his face," Lily said with a laugh to a bewildered Robin. " You would've died! He was so surprised that we didn't know who he was, but the mask was a dead giveaway. Oh, it was priceless!"

Robin gave his head a skeptical shake and said, " So, he just agreed to help you out, and trust you? Sorry, but I'm not buying that. Batman is the most secluded, distrustful person on the planet. And he just decided to trust you?"

Lily shook her head and answered, " No, not really. You see, Ahren is telepathic mostly, with a teeny sprinkling of telekinetic gift. So, he let Batman into his mind, and proved that we were both trustworthy, for the mind never lies…not even to itself. Besides, we saved his life; he owed us the benefit of the doubt. After all, even super heroes slip up sometimes."

Robin just stared at her in response, still not entirely convinced in the story, but asked, " So, what made you come to Jump City?"

She fixed him with a serious gaze and answered, " Do you know what else Ahren can do? He as visions, as strange as that sounds, and he had a particularly violent one while looking at one of your old uniforms in the Batcave. He saw a snake, a cobra to be precise, attacking and eating a robin; this robin happened to be on a circus tight-wire, and was singing a mournful tune, like most robins do. The cobra had a girl behind it, and the robin had a falling shadow behind it, a shadow that was joining two other shapes on the circus floor. After that, he was shown a picture of a city in flames, a city with a huge 'T' in the background.

" Following the recounting of this vision to Batman, he told us to go to Jump City, for that was where we would find the songbird in the vision. You. So, we arrived, and were immediately encountered with the snake from the vision, and we knew we were in the correct area. So, we waited until Ahren had the same vision again, signaling the events were about to come to pass. So, we headed towards the base, where you all were currently at, and we witnessed part of a battle before we had to head inside. I was told the rest of that story by Raven. You see, when we first arrived, we saw a pretty alarming sight happening outside the entrance to the station…"

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After the second vision, both Lily and Ahren rushed over to the large, abandoned warehouse where the battle was raging on. Just how did they know where the base was? Well, it was the only a matter of two choices, and Ahren was sensing more brain waves at the second one, so that was the one they picked.

Villains are notorious for picking hideouts that aren't really hidden aren't they?

As the pair arrived, they saw a tall cybernetic teen, a small pale girl, and a green boy watching a red-haired girl raise a sword on a masked man on the ground. The girl was shrouded in a greenish flame, and her sword looked as if it would probably kill the man, Slade, if the couple's memory served them justice.

The two raced over to the three unmoving Titans, and Ahren yelled, " Hey! How do we get into the base!"

Raven looked over at him, surprise now etched on her face, and asked, " Get in? Are you crazy? We just got finished destroying it! You aren't going to be able to save the base now."

" No," Lily said impatiently. " We need to get in to help YOUR friends inside! We aren't your enemies, they are long gone from here, all except two. One you are taking care of, the other is still inside. Please, we promise we'll tell you everything once this is over, but we don't have time right now!"

Raven looked over to Cyborg, who nodded his consent, and then gave a quick nod to the couple saying, " There is a small door near that North wall building, right there do you see? Yes, that's it. Hurry up and get back out here."

Lily nodded and headed into the building and Ahren following, but he first stopped and looked back at the scene in front of him. The alien, Starfire, had swung the blade, and chipped off a piece of Slade's mask, revealing silver hair underneath. As he rolled out of the way, Starfire went flying after him, determined to beat the man who had caused the person she loved so much pain.

" Watch out for her," Ahren said as he turned to follow Lily. " She is running out of fuel fast, be prepared to catch her if needs be." And with that, he had dashed into the building and out of site.

Raven, her mouth set in a grim line, turned back towards the Slade/Starfire battle, and started to levitate off the ground. " We need to go help Star," Raven said to both Cyborg and Beastboy. " So, let's show Slade what the hell we're made of."

And with that, Raven went flying at Slade, and hit him with a black zap of energy, and in addition to Cyborg' blue laser cannon, the two forces hit the madman with a good enough force for him to feel it. All the while, Beastboy had transformed into a wolf, and with a shocking amount of ferocity, he began attacking Slade with everything he had. And, let's not forget Starfire's super-charged up starbolts, which were still being battered into the villain. And, as all these things went on, a great amount of smoke was created, and blocked out all of the Titans' vision, and when it cleared they saw…

_Nothing!_ Slade had escaped yet again, but they all knew he wouldn't show for awhile. They had given him a pretty good beating.

Raven floated down to the ground, and Beastboy, who had turned back into his usual shape, went over to make sure she was all right. Cyborg stood beside Starfire, supporting her, for her energy had finally depleted itself. The four teens looked around the devastation of the battle, just as the police and paramedics arrived, to help villains, civilians, and heroes alike.

" Oh," Starfire said as Cyborg led her to a bench to sit down. " I do hope Robin is well."

Too bad that was the furthest from the truth of how Robin was doing. As he lied in a pool of his own blood, and as Viper leaned over him menacingly with her sword, it looked like the end of the poor fallen songbird.

But, redes are often subtle and hidden, and while they seem to mean one thing, the mean something else all together.

For, Lily and Ahren came bursting into the room, and Ahren immediately sent a mental blast at Viper, driving her away from the dying Titan. Now, if you are wondering what kind of pain Viper is in right now, lets just say it was like someone was trying to split open her head with a jackhammer, (I hope some of you feel a little vindicated with that!) and she couldn't fight back her screams.

Meanwhile, Lily had rushed over to Robin's side and immediately began creating a healing force in her hand, muttering a mantra similar to what Raven's does, and began to heal the wound. Or, at least stop the bleeding. She was not having any luck in either of those departments though.

" Jinx," she yelled at the girl standing near her. " I need your help! Can you find me some cloth, and maybe a spare shirt if you can?"

Jinx nodded, not caring that the girl somehow knew her name, and immediately went to work to find the requested items.

Ahren, now wrapping up Viper in metal bindings to ensure that even if she did regain consciousness, she would not get away, and rushed over to Lily. Jinx came running back then, the objects in her arms, and set them next to the purple-eyed girl.

" Okay," Lily said as she took a knife from off a nearby counter and began cutting off the boy's shirt. " I need you, Ahren, to wrap that bit of cloth there around the wound as tightly as you can, we need to stop the bleeding or he'll die regardless. Jinx, I need you to chant a spell with me, say '_Vandar'le evec a vancha'_ with me five times. Okay?"

Jinx nodded, and the two girls gave a chant as Ahren wrapped the boy up as tight as he could muster. When both of those things were done, the three individuals backed away to see a sickening blob of blackish material rise up from Robin's body. Jinx gave a gasp, and Ahren started to put the extra shirt on the Boy wonder.

" We bought him enough time to get to a medical facility," Lily said as she started to get up. " We raised the poison out of his body, which was probably causing him to bleed more rapidly. Is Titan Tower well-stocked with medical supplies?"

" Yes," Jinx answered meekly, still worried beyond belief for her wounded leader. " It's only a couple of minutes away in the T-car. But, I think I can get an ambulance for him."

" Then let's go," Ahren said as he picked up Robin gently, and started to walk out of the Lab, and out of the complex. Lily and Jinx followed in suit, all hurrying to find the other Titans.

Beastboy was sitting on a different bench from Starfire, but he was still sitting on a bench. He had apparently taken a pretty nasty cut to the head, but in the heat of the battle, he hadn't seemed to notice. Even so, he just had a huge grin plastered on his face, for he never quite got a feeling like Raven healing him! He glanced over at Cyborg, who was filling a disgruntled police chief on the situation, and felt a twinge of dread as fifty or so reporters finally made their way through to the Titans.

" How did this event even come about?"

" Were there any casualties?"

" How are the Titans going to explain the thousands of dollars that will be needed to fix this damage?"

" How do you feel about getting civilians involved in this affair?"

The four teens just ignored the questions, as the police tried to herd the media away from the heroes. But they still rattled off their incessant questions.

" Do any of you Titans have a comment?"

" Still single ladies, Raven and Starfire?"

" How come you...oh my God…"

All the reporters suddenly stood stock still, all looking at the destroyed base behind the teens. Curious to see what had drawn the media's attention away from them, the Titans all turned around to see what was wrong. What they saw. Would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

They saw Jinx come sprinting out from the building and to the paramedics, and she ended up with the keys to the ambulance in her hand. Next, they saw A brown-haired, lavender eyed girl marching out a defeated Viper, a girl who happened to be covered in blood. And finally, they saw a black-haired,brown eyed boy come out, carrying a very unconscious, very pale looking Robin.

They then noticed that both the boy and Robin were also covered in blood.

And, if any of you has ever lost a loved one, then you understand the feeling the Titans were going through. If not, then there is no possible way to imagine the absolute terror of seeing someone you love so much, so close to death.

Jinx then got into the driver seat of the ambulance, and motioned the other Titans to do so as well. They all heard Jinx yelling at them, and they all knew that the purple-eyed girl was shouting as well, but none seemed to be able to move. As Ahren walked by, he stopped in front of Cyborg, and looked straight at the teen's eyes.

" We need to go back to your tower," Ahren spoke softly, but firmly. " Lily bought him some time, but us all standing here will not, I repeat will not, help him at all. If you care about him as much as I think you do, then you have to view him not as your leader, but as your friend. Take charge Cyborg, your best friend is depending on you."

Cyborg looked away from the boy's gaze and down at the wounded boy in his arms. He looked so weak, so helpless, Cyborg had never seen Robin so incapacitated before. Sure, they had been hurt, loads of times, because that was part of the super hero gig; you had to make sacrifices to save the city you loved. But, none of them, the Titans, had ever dealt with this before. Then, Cyborg noticed something he hadn't noticed before, something that should've been obvious in different circumstances.

Robin didn't have his mask on, he was a normal human at that moment, nothing more.

" Okay Titans," Cyborg yelled, getting all the other's attention. " Let's move out! Back to the Tower now!"

He, Beastboy, and Raven all started toward the T-car, while Ahren loaded himself and Robin into the ambulance. Lily, after making sure Viper wasn't going anywhere but a high security prison, saw that Starfire was still sitting in the bench, her arms wrapping around her body in an anxious way. Lily helped the girl up, and started leading the weeping alien to the ambulance.

" You need to be strong Starfire," Lily said to the crying girl. " Be strong for him, he needs you by his side."

Albeit she was still leaking tears, Starfire put on the bravest face she could muster and wrapped her hand around Robin's unmoving one, and tried to drive her own warmth into his body. She was amazed at how small his hand seemed at the moment, a hand that often saved her, was now in need of her saving. It was so cold.

" I am here my _cheir_," Starfire spoke softly, her voice still struggling to not crack. " Do not go into the darkness, please stay where I am able to locate you."

And the ambulance drove away, towards the Tower, the T-car following closely behind. And all the witnesses, police, reporters, and anyone else nearby the site all watched the two cars propel towards the iconic Tower, all praying that a much needed miracle would occur.

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" So," Robin said with a worn out tone to his voice. " Slade got away, again?"

Lily gave him such a funny look, that he almost started to laugh with her, knowing all to well that only he would say something like that after just being told on how close he was to the ninth gate!

" My, my Robin," Lily was able to spit out amidst her guffaws. " You are truly one of a kind!"

He gave a shrug, smiling in light of the serious situation he was still in. But then, a question assailed his mind. " Why did you take my mask of the first time? I mean, was there any purpose? I kind of need to keep who I am a secret, hence the whole 'secret-identity' thing."

" Oh that," Lily replied with a wave of her hand. " It helps with the spell if I truly know who it is I am trying to save. Just a stupid technicality. But, you really need to learn how to trust people, you know that? I mean, it's one of the rules."

" What rules?" Robin asked, intrigued at the girl's comment.

" You know," she replied as she took another sip of her now cold tea. " _The rules_. Life's rules. The first one is to trust others, even if you do not trust yourself. I thought everyone knew about those…I bet Starfire does."

" What are you exactly?" Robin asked again. This girl's sayings, mannerisms, and gifts confused him.

" Ah, the million-dollar question," Lily answered with a sly look on her face. " Can't answer that just yet boy-o. I promised Raven we'd tell the whole team at the same time…so you'll just have to be patient."

Robin gave an impatient sigh, and leaned back onto his pillow. He looked at the clock, and marveled that it now said it was 9:37 AM. It had been over six hours since Lily had first started telling her tale. It was then that he noticed a beautiful redhead asleep on some chairs on the opposite side of the room.

" How…when…why.."

" Just out of curiosity," Lily said, ignoring the startled young man's pointing and muttering. " How did you find your way back to the light? I mean, you had to have, or you would still be conked out."

Robin tore his gaze away from Starfire and looked at Lily.

" I don't really know," he began shakily. " I think I wanted to give in, I think I even did for a second, but then I heard a voice, and she told me that I couldn't. She led my back, and all she did was touch my face…it was all so extraordinary…

" There was also a song, or a rhyme, or something that the girl sang to me, first in a language I didn't understand, or even had ever heard of, and then she sang it in English. It was such a haunting song, but I only remember a few words of it in the weird language. One was _Linnathon _and the other was _Ennorath._ I think one meant Light, and the other meant Darkness…but I don't really remember."

" Umm, sound like you had a rede, or an augury sung to you in your mind. Those are kind of like riddles for the future…but are oft very difficult to decipher. I don't relly know hat the language was, it sounds similar to one I know well, but...I don't really know. And this girl, was she someone you know, or knew?"

" Uh, no," Robin answered slowly, not quite sure of himself. " At least, not really anyway. I felt as if she was a part of me, but I had never seen her in my life. I remember I mistook her for Star, but she wasn't. She had my eyes too…it was all really confusing."

" Sounds like it," Lily answered back. " Well, I think you should talk to Ahren abut this…after all, he would know more about it than I do."

Following a lapse in conversation, both Robin and lily were startled by the arrival of a black-haired boy into the room.

" Lily," he began. " I think you should go and, wait, WHOA! You're up! Omigosh, the team is going to be ecstatic! I mean…you know you were…and we were all…you…YESS!"

He suddenly yanked Lily out of her seat, and started to lead her towards the door to tell all the sleeping Titans (and yes, they are sleeping in late!) that their long awaited leader was finally up! Before she left, Lily shook Starfire awake, and directed the girl's attention towards a now smiling Robin. As Starfire's sleepy expression turned into one of rapture, she rushed over and GENTLY, keyword there,hugged Robin, her tears staining his hospital gown.

As Robin tried to hug Starfire back, he heard something whisper in his head, a message that he almost loss as all the other Titans came booming in, all awoken by their com-links after Lily held up Ahren. He was to excited to tell everyone, so he just sent out a message, and sure enough, the whole team came running! And now, Ahren was standing there,now smirking at Robin.

_" She was here all five days you know,"_ a male voice, one who Robin suspected whom it was.

_" She was here by your side for five, straight, longdays."_

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**A/N: **I hope you guys enjoy that as much as I liked writing it. The end!

SIKE!

Yeah, like I'm really gonna stop it here, I haven't even explained who Lily and Ahren are, what the song was about, who the girl in Robin's sorta dream was…ah hell, I haven't answered hardly any questions!

Oh, and sorry to you guys who wanted Slade to die, but it's not his time just yet!

Viper, as mean, vile, disgusting, depraved, and psycho she may be, is by no means out of the game just yet! But, her part in this tale as ended, so I will bid her adieu for now!

I think I have about two or three more chapters of this fic left, and then I roll right into the second installment of the series. So, be looking forward to that!

Oh, and a side note. The language that the rhyme was first written in, I take no credit for, it's all Elvish. Not Tolkien's, his is a little to coarse for me, but another author who I like sooo much! It's a little softer, so I like it soooo much better! Just in case any of you guys were like, what?

Remember to review you guys! So far, you guys have been awesome!

Osco


	12. Saving You

**A/N: Again, merely changing the chapter so there are no lyrics...but now the story doesn't even make any sense! Curse you to hell !**

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**Chapter 11: Saving You**

Wow, this is so cool! I can't believe they wanted me to do this first, you think Raven or Cyborg would've been chosen, but nope! They chose me, BEASTBOY, to do it first!

So, uh, what should I talk about?

………………………..er…………………………..

Oh! I guess I could talk about how we totally kicked Slade's and the Viper lady's butts! Well, we really didn't kick Viper's butt, but we sure did beat up Slade! He won't be back for awhile, not unless he wants to face the wrath of BEASTBOY again! But, he did get away….Viper didn't though! She's going to a high security vault in Gotham…I think she got life or something….whatever! I personally think she should go to the Justice League or something for punishment, after what she did to Robin, but he's almost all the way better now….it's been the easiest three weeks for training ever!

We were all pretty scared though…well, except Raven, but she never gets scared over that stuff. I think she knew that Lily and Ahren were coming to help or something…and it's good they did. I like them. Kinda remind me of what Robin and Star could be if Robin gets his head out of his butt! Still can't believe I didn't see it for over a year!

But, I don't wanna talk about them, how about me and Raven! Yeah, I think we are really ho-……CYBORG! STOP MESSING WITH THE RECORDER! GIVE IT BACK!

………………….static………………

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The days in Titan Tower had finally gone back to being normal, or as normal as one can get when the house-mates are all underage super heroes, after the most grueling two month period the team had seen in a while. The infamous breakfast debate of meat or tofu was in full swing, meditation was trying to get done, musings were being done up on the roof, and physical therapy had progressed nicely for the team. Well, progressed nicely for Robin anyway, but it had given the rest of the team a break from his grueling training sessions.

Cyborg had assumed the mantle of team leader whilst the boy-wonder recovered from his near death experience, and the two newest additions to the Tower, Lily and Ahren, had stayed to make sure that Robin didn't go out on any missions with the rest of the Titans.

And, as promised, the couple informed the Titans of their most peculiar history once Robin had been able to get out of bed, with a little help from Starfire no doubt! As Robin did his morning stretches and such, his mind wandered back to those stories, for they were still new to him a week later.

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Ahren, as it had been told, was either separated or taken away from his family at a young age, so he never recalled them. He only remembered the foster home, and later, the family who adopted him. They were called the O'Brians, and they claimed to fall in love with him the moment they set eyes on him.

One of those weird parental quirks he claimed.

He lived as normal a life one could live, at least up until he turned ten, and in his excitement to open his presents, he read his parents' minds and 'heard' what they were. He didn't realize until he finished unwrapping the gifts, and saw his readings were correct, that he really did pick the answers out of his parents' thoughts! Astonished, and frightened his family would hate him for his gift, he kept his powers to himself even as they began to grow more powerful, progressing up until he could begin to move inanimate objects around just by thinking on it hard enough. His parents, knowing something was going on with their son, figured it out eventually when they saw Ahren float the remote control to himself when he was getting angry that he could not find it.

But, they surprised little Ahren and didn't reject him; they embraced his powers and began to help him learn how to control them. And in a time where those gifts earned you scorn and banishment, the O'Brians proved the stigma wrong that all humans are afraid of what they do not understand.

They discovered over a time that Ahren was sharper in the area of reading minds and such, while he was much weaker in actually moving objects with his mind, only able to move and shape simple objects. It was also discovered one day when Ahren turned sixteen, that he had visions of either the present or the future. The vision he had showed him and his family in Ireland, so his parents adhered to the foresight, and decided to move to Ireland, it was their homeland after all.

It was there that he met Lily.

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Robin stopped his stretches, and gently lowered himself to a kneeling position, and waited for Lily to come in. The girl was pretty apt when it came to methods of healing and therapy, so Robin conceded to her daily exercises, if only to rejoin his team quicker. He gave a slight smile has he remembered her story, and shook his head as he recalled learning why she was so strange.

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Lily was born in a small gathering of people about thirty miles outside of Dublin, just far away enough to be close to the ocean, and far away from civilization. They called themselves a Clan, and lived much like ordinary folk, just without technology and such. Now, why did her family live so far away from the Western world? Well, they believed that humanity was not going in a good direction, and they also were not being accepted because of their religion and beliefs.

Lily and her Clan are Pagan you see, therefore, answering some of the Titans questions has to her mannerisms and sayings. She had been brought up in a society that encouraged a 'thinking outside the box' mentality, and she used that mantra to live her life everyday.

As a young girl, her Clan's Elders had discovered that she had a significant amount of magic within her, more so than the rest of the children her age. She had a sort of gift to sing to plants and nature, and they would respond; she even claimed to understand what they were speaking to her. By a simple song, she could control trees, flowers, and other plants to do her bidding. She could create life from nothing by simply singing a plant to grow, she could fashion a defense out of branches and leaves that would prove to be formidable, and she could even strangle someone with vines if she truly wished it. So, she was trained in a different way than her peers, she was trained by the Elders themselves, and grew into a young woman with a good amount of her power's in control.

In addition to her natural magic, she became quite adept in the art of healing, most probably due to the fact that she could already heal plants by a song, so healing other forms of life just came natural to her.

There was something strange about her magic though, she spoke it in a language that no one, not even herself, knew what it was. Lily only knew how to use the words, not the literal translations. She was viewed equally in her Clan however, and that kept her from becoming some madwoman intent on punishing humanity for the imperfections. She chose to help mankind, and that was partly why she decided to accompany Ahren, a strange outsider who came to her village on the whim of a vision he had, accompany him wherever his foretellings might lead. Ahren was not that much older than the young witch, so most of the Elders did not think anything of the two youths' blossoming romance, but that story will not be told here. Ahren's parents decided to stay in Dublin, but visited the Clan often on the weekends, eager to learn more about people with gifts so unusual.

The couple took off when Lily turned sixteen, and they traveled to Metropolis to visit a man with a huge "S" on his chest, another one of Ahren's visions that seemed to be leading up to something greater. From that adventure, their exploits took them all over the Eastern coast of the US, until they finally ended up in Gotham, almost two years later, and we all know what happened next.

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Robin slowly eased himself off the wall he was leaning against, his musings now cut short as he saw the lavender-eyed Lily walk into the room, her face hidden behind a huge, ancient looking book.

" You know you shouldn't lean against the wall like that," the brunette scolded the young hero without looking up from her book. " It puts pressure on your lower back, and that is only slightly better."

At this point she had looked up to see the raven-haired boy smirking at her reprimand, and she felt her laughter already coming as she closed her book.

" You sound ridiculous trying to be a mom you know," Robin said, the smirk now forming into a grin.

Lily's giggles overtook her then, but she was able to choke out, " And how am I supposed to make you get better if you keep mocking my 'weird' methods? I can't slap on a Band-Aid and make your boo-boo's all go away!"

" Oh-oh," Robin answered as he headed over to the parallel walking bars to work out his still injured abdominal area. " But I thought Band-Aids solved all of life's problems."

" Nope," Lily said with a smile as she headed over to where Robin was, finally able to keep her chuckles under control. " That would be duct-tape. Ahren swears that it can fix anything that breaks."

" Well," Robin said with a grimace as Lily started to direct his body in a bend that stretched his very sore abs. " That's not so weird. Beastboy thinks that Windex will get rid of any cut or blemish. I think he watches that Greek wedding movie too much!"

Lily simply smiled as she guided Robin's lean frame through all of the therapeutic exercises. The rest of the half-hour or so continued in silence, only Lily's voice punctuating the quiet with her directions. After the two finished, Robin walked slowly over to a nearby bench and eased himself down.

" So," he began with a small trace of hope in his voice. " When do you think I'm ready to get back out there?"

Lily canted her head in thought for a second and finally answered, " Honestly? Probably another week and half, and even then you still couldn't do all what you used to boy-o. Your body is healing magnificently for someone so grievously injured, but you're still human. Give me just a little bit more patience, and I promise you that you'll get better and be able to defend this dump again."

Robin shot the healer a repugnant look at calling his city a dump, but quickly dropped it, and heaved a big sigh. " I just can't stand having to sit here all day! My team needs me, and here I am, all gimped up and pathetic."

Lily gave the boy a wan smile and answered, " They are doing fine…Ahren is filling in for your vacancy, and Cyborg is proving to be a fantastic leader. They all just want you to get better, and if I let you head out there now, you won't. Now, buck up and get yourself out of the pity-barn! You're to strong to succumb to self-pity, and it won't help you get any healthier."

" I know, I know," Robin said, shaking his head free of those weakening thoughts. He pushed himself up, sore as he was, and both of the gifted teens headed up to the common room for some breakfast.

As Robin finished his Cheerios, he saw the Titans and Ahren walk into the room, looking as if they would've much preferred to stay in and slept, then woken up in the middle of the night to stop the never ending cycle of crime for a moment.

Lily walked over to Ahren, gave him a quick peck, and then led him over to the big brown book she had been reading earlier.

" So," Robin asked casually, anything but what he felt inside. " Anyone interesting last night?"

" Do ya mean morning?" Cyborg answered snappishly as he and the rest of the Titans all collapsed at the table Robin was seated at. " I mean…dang man! Don't ya think that these guys could try to commit their crimes in the afternoon or something? I'm getting sick of these constant midnight raids!"

" Yeah!" Beastboy said indignantly. " I mean, how am I supposed to get my beauty sleep when I have to be at raid from 12 am to 6am, and then have to argue with Cyborg about my tofu needs?"

Everybody just looked over at Beastboy for a minute, before they all burst out into laughter. Beastboy looked annoyed at everyone laughing at him, but joined in when Raven leaned over and gave him a small kiss on the cheek, and smiling at him.

After they all calmed down, Cyborg and Beastboy immediately went to their ongoing struggle to see just who is the better racer in their video game. It was one of those weird male things of who is the most superior organism.

Raven and Jinx made their way over to Lily, who was now alone reading her arcane, ancient book, and sat down beside the girl. They were interested in learning new spells and potions for future use, because both Lily and Ahren made it quite clear that they were not going to become Titans, it just didn't feel right to them.

Robin got up, and slowly walked over to the elevator that led to the roof, but was stopped before he got in by Ahren, who had mysteriously reappeared after disappearing from Lily's side.

" She's up there you know," the brown-eyed youth said to the Boy Wonder. " She went up there right when we got back, and hasn't come down since."

Robin gave a nonchalant shrug, trying to feign as if he didn't care. He didn't like how Ahren was so upfront with his knowledge that Robin cared for the alien princess.

" So," Ahren said with a smile. " What are you going to do about it?"

" I don't know what you are talking about," Robin answered testily. " I'm going up to my room to see if I can track where Slade might have gotten to."

" Are you now?" Ahren retorted. " Well, then by all means go and do something so utterly pointless rather than comforting the woman you love, and who cares for you back. That's a smart move, I'm sure you'll be much happier with your articles than your best friend."

Robin was taken aback by how caustic Ahren had spoken just then. The telepath's eyes, which had hardened as he spoke before, now softened and Ahren placed both of his hands on Robin's shoulders and let out a slow breath.

" Let me tell you something Robin," he began. " And this is something I want you to think about as you enter that elevator. You shouldn't fear something that hurt you in the past, because then all you're doing is hiding who you are from everyone who loves you at this moment. None of these beings broke your spirit, left you when you were lost, or lied to you for some obscure reason. Your falling right now kid, and what you are doing right now is making you fall longer. Your room doesn't hold the key to your healing, it really doesn't. No matter what how many villains you take down, your parents won't come back, and that's a hard truth to live with, but you have to. It's how you live in the first place. And, I'm telling you right now, there is a very special soul you just might make you realize that."

With that, Ahren turned away from the stunned and teary-eyed masked youth, and headed to the couch where Cyborg and Beastboy were.

Robin walked backwards into the elevator, shut the doors, and stared at the keypad for what seemed him like an eternity. But, in what was actually five seconds, he pushed the up key, and chose his path.

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Starfire had been sitting up on the roof for a long time, she knew that, but the calming sensation of the breeze and the rays of an autumn sun brought her a sense of peace that she had not been able to feel for quite a lengthy period of time. Her gaze was focused on the City Park at the time, where she saw a children's soccer game, something so pure and innocent she could not bear to tear her eyes away from it. The laughing, the jumping, the hugging was all so beautiful to the Tameranean at a time where her eyes had a hard time finding the beauty life held.

Even as she tried to stay lost in the game, or in the breeze, her thoughts kept going back to that horrible moment that occurred three weeks ago. She knew that he was almost well, and she knew that he didn't want anybody to worry about him, but Starfire found that she just couldn't help it. Her nightmares were filled with images of Ahren carrying a very pale, very dead looking Robin and she couldn't do a thing to help him. She remembered arriving to the Tower, she remembered rushing Robin to the medical wing, she remembered Ahren saying that it would take a miracle for Lily to save him, that no one survived that kind of wound without some kind of enhancement.

But somehow, he did survive. He survived only to be in a comatose state; a state that no one, not even Raven, was sure if he'd wake up or not. So, Starfire sat vigilantly beside the dark-haired boy who'd inadvertently captured her heart and tried to give him the miracle he so desperately needed.

' X'Hal must have been watching him too,' Starfire thought to herself as a smile broke through on her tear-stained face. ' That or maybe the walking pigs did fly.'

She stayed lost in her thoughts on that rooftop ledge, not really caring she had spent the entire morning and part of the afternoon on the roof, when she suddenly heard the rooftop door open and close behind her and she saw Robin there, a basket of food in tow.

" I thought you'd be hungry," Robin said strangely as he motioned the basket of food in his other hand. A basket of food that had mysteriously appeared in the elevator when Robin had pushed the button to go up.

" Oh! I thank you," Starfire exclaimed as she started to ravenously eat the food Robin had brought, suddenly realizing that she was very hungry. As she ate her fill, Robin very carefully sat beside the alien princess, and smiling, watched her eat the food in the traditional Tameranean style.

Finishing her meal, Starfire and Robin just sat on the ledge and talked of inane subjects, both just reveling in the other's company. They didn't even realize how late it was until they saw the sun start to lower itself from the sky, letting it's brother the moon take over the horizon from here.

" Robin," Starfire began cautiously. " Are you ever going to be able to open up to anyone and tell us about who you are? I do not mean to 'snoop' however, I am very worried that you will hurt yourself further if you do not let someone in."

" You've been talking with Ahren or Lily haven't you?" Robin asked with a smile.

Blushing furiously and twiddling her thumbs she answered, " And what if I have? They do make an excellent observation. And, I trust that hey would know more about these earthly customs than I would."

Robin didn't answer her, he just stared out over the ocean, which only caused Starfire to let out an exaggerated sigh and rest her head in her palm.

Raising her head from her palm, Starfire rose from her seat and floated off the ledge, her arms wrapped protectively around her body to ward off the autumn night chill.

" Star," Robin asked as he too rose from his seat, though much more slowly than she. " My past is not something that I parade around because it's not something that's all that pleasant. Why would I want my teammates to pity me if they knew my parents were murdered in front of me when I was nine? Why would I tell people who look up to me that my old mentor was so disappointed in how impulsive I am, that he didn't hold many objections to my leaving? Why would I tell you that sometimes I really want to kill the evil we fight to ease the pain my parents' deaths left with me? I'll tell you why Star, it's because it lets everyone in on a big secret that was inconveniently revealed that night with Viper. I'm human, plain and simple. When it comes down to it, I'm not nearly as strong as anyone on this team, and that fact is known when the mask is off. I really wish I could be as strong as you or Cy, or as determined as Beastboy, or as controlled as Raven and Jinx, or as…_free_…as Lily and Ahren, but I can't. I just-"

" Yes you can," Starfire interrupted suddenly, her voice radiating a calming aura around the two. " The mere fact that you are human is why myself and our friends respect you so much. I lost my family at a young age as well, but the Titans became my family, your family, and we have had so many mirthful times yes?"

Robin, now noting how close he was to Starfire, merely gave a smile as he recalled all of the great moments the past year and a half had brought him.

Starfire taking hold of his hand, closing the small gap between them even more broke him from the reverie.

" I think I have now understood something that as been plaguing my mind these past weeks," Starfire said in a quiet voice, now knowing what people had been trying to explain to her meant. " I have been very confused for quite some time on why you act the way that you do. I have inquired to many people this query, and none have been able to find a suitable answer. But, I believe I may have figured it out on my own. Robin, you have this, obligation of sorts, that I think compels you to make up for your parents' deaths. It is a human folly to constantly to berate and blame yourself for something that is entirely out of your control, something that you could not have prevented by any means. You save, and save, and save the nameless faces to make up for something that you believe you have blame for. But do you not comprehend that this path will not heal you, it only maims you further. And I believe that you have been hurt enough in your life, so I have decided that I will be the one to save your life this night."

The passionate Starfire then caught the lost Robin in utter shock when she leaned in swiftly and placed her lips over his.

As quickly as it had happened, it was over, and Starfire's brilliant emerald eyes looked straight into Robin's masked azure ones. The two stood still for a moment, their entire pasts with each other passing in their minds.

" I understand what love is Robin," Starfire whispered in his ear. " And I know that is what I feel for you. I love you Robin, mask or no, and nothing you could possibly do can change my mind. I believe you need me, and I know I need you so, what do you say now?"

Robin looked at her while his soul in a tumult of confusion, but one emotion showing through the most, fear. " Are you sure Star? Are you sure?" he asked quietly.

Starfire then reached up and took off the mask that hid the boy she loved from the world. Her breath caught as she saw his eyes, two deep pools of blue that seemed to echo the tempest of the ocean itself. She smiled enchantingly at him, and ran a hand down the side of his face whispering, " Yes, I'm sure Robin. More sure of anything in my life."

He entwined his hand with her free hand, all inhibitions lost to the starlit sky, and said, " Fine Star, you win. I love you with anything that my heart as to give."

He then reached behind her back with his free hand, and brought Star to him again, capturing her lips in a kiss, and she ran her free hand through his jet hair. All of the ardor betwixt the two broke threw then, and they lost themselves in each other. The touches, the feelings, the moment was all as perfect as it could be for the two lovers, and it caused Starfire to fill with her boundless joy, and she and Robin both started to raise off the ground.

But, neither was paying too much attention to that small fact as the stars and the moon continued their dance in the sky, happily shining for the two lost souls that had finally found each other.

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Back in the Tower, both Ahren and Raven looked up all of a sudden to the roof, and then glanced at each other, a secret smiling passing between them. The other Titans and Lily looked at the two and their confusion turned into comprehension and they all let out a huge sigh of relief. The couples all slid closer to each other then, feeding off the purely beautiful vibes radiating from the roof.

" So," Jinx asked the two oldest in the room. " What happens now?"

While Lily just shrugged and Ahren said, " Who knows. This chapter is over, but there will be more, and I believe you'll all tackle those when they come."

" For now," Raven said, adding on to Ahren's thread. " Just be happy we don't have to try to play matchmaker anymore with those two. I don't know about any of you, but I was getting just about as crazy as they were."

As the friends all laughed, and the two on the roof reveled in their newfound bliss, they couldn't help but think it'll all be okay.

But that was what they had to trust, that life would be all right in the end.


	13. Epilogue: Trust

**A/N: **Hey hey hey! I thought I'd make up for my stupidness and get this chapter out right after the last one! Aren't y'all proud of me? Plus, I don't want to go outside…Arizona is very hot, even right now!

But first, I feel it is my duty to respond to someone, and this person knows who they are, who really irritated me w/ her review. I respect people's opinions on my fic, and I welcome people to flame me, but please do it for something that actually pertains to my story. I have asked readers to not rant at me because I actually have a life and I do not revolve myself around this fic…some people actually have IMPORTANT things to do w/ their lives when graduation is right around the corner. I had this fic outlined, and I even outlined my next two installments when I didn't have time to update for all my readers, so please do not flame me for not updating quick enough to satisfy your needs.

As to my OC's, they are not going anywhere so either shut up and deal, or don't read my fic…it's as simple as that. I alluded to other superheroes because they do exist in the Titans world, but it's not like I'm going to do a crossover…and X'Hal is a kind of God or exclamation on Tameran…maybe you should pay a little more attention to the show. To this person, you have really disappointed me with this review, I respected your opinion before, but now I think you're just a bit childish. I'm sorry if you are offended by reading this, but you offended me and I can get pretty pissed off with ignorant people.

I'm sorry to all my other reviewers for the above tirade, this as nothing to do with you, but she told me not to e-mail her, so I had to write it here. I appreciate all of you who review my story, w/ either praise or criticism, so keep it up!

This is actually going to be extremely short, it's just an epilogue to the story, but I figured I could finish this fic before I go my trip, and then start the next story in the arc, or do the mini fics. Whatever you guys want…I'm up for taking requests and challenges!

Well, enjoy!

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Chapter 12: Trust 

Ahem, Hello. This is Robin, and I'm using this recorder to…oh I don't know…talk about my thoughts I guess. It's supposed to help me 'open my mind' to old memories that are repressed Raven said.

To be honest, I don't really want to do this; it's not my kind of thing or whatever. But, I kind of got forced into it, all the other Titans, even Raven, gave a recording as a good-bye present to Ahren and Lily for…well for saving my life for one…and making me realize what a dumb ass I've been for a while for two…and I guess just for everything they've done for us. We all really tried to get them to stay, again even Raven, but they were adamant about leaving. We gave them communicators though, so if we ever need them, or vice versa, all we have to do is just give them a signal and let them know.

Things have slowed down a bit here, crime wise at least, and it has given all of us here time to work through all of these new relationships we all delved into. It was bound to happen, six teens living in the same Tower; it's like the Real World except we don't get drunk everyday or weekend. No matter how much Beastboy and Cy beg me, I am not allowing alcohol in this Tower while we are all still underage, probably even when we are of age. But, that all depends if we are all still here then…I guess I'll just have to trust that we will.

Trust, now there's a word I've learned to appreciate lately. It is astonishing how much I feared to let people in, how much I feared to let myself feel what I thought I had lost. I mean, I got it from everyone all the time, how I never trusted anyone else to help me track down villains, Slade mainly, or how I would never let people into the details of just who I am exactly.

Raven doesn't tell us, but I'm sure that'll all be cleared up soon…Slade reappeared again on her birthday, and there is something that'll be going down because of that meeting. However, I think we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there.

But, now I'm drifting from what I wanted to talk about in the first place. Trust, and how all those implications it brings changes life. I guess the whole issue came to a head after the whole Red-X fiasco…my God I really fucked up…I mean, I hurt my team members, and for what? To catch a criminal that was driving me insane? That's not a noble reason at all…but as I look back, I don't think it's the truth either. I think I did it because of Star, because she got hurt and I think I just lost it. Jesus, even then I was head over heels for her…and I guess I have her to thank for saving me from the fall.

Now that I think about it, do I now know what trust even is? I mean, does one moment redeem me for all the bad ones in my life? Does one kiss, or one confession, change everything? I guess no one can ever answer that question absolutely. But, as for me, I think it does in her eyes…and maybe then it does for me. I can't keep on living my life in the dark, afraid to reach out and touch the light because there is a chance to get burned.

It's a risk, but it's worth it.

Trust is something that can be easily given, but not easily earned. It is something that can give you faith in humanity, but is also something that can lead you to hate mankind. It's something that's blind, but at the same time, something with its eyes wide open. It is something that can create relationships, or it can destroy them…but that all depends on how one lives their life.

I guess when it comes down to it, trust is something that is different for everyone, and it's not one for sure thing. Was the past two months a tale of redemption for me? I don't think it was, but it was more of an awakening to what I could have been. Viper is what she is because she can't trust that humanity will be all right in the end, through all of the ups and downs. She doesn't trust a soul in the world.

And now, I see that could've been me.

….I don't know, maybe that's why we can't help her….maybe no one can… I hope that someone one day can, someone who will give her a reason to trust humanity.

I know now that Star did that for me…her and that unknown girl from my dream…or whatever it was…Anyway, they showed me what this is all about. It's not about surrendering or anything, it's about believing in someone even if you can't believe in yourself.

And I suppose if I can do that, I think then we'll all be all right in the end.

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**A/N: **Now, there's the end. I hope you all enjoyed this fic, I really enjoyed writing it!

If the thoughts seemed fragmented to you, that's because they are. This chapter is meant to represent Robin's inner most thoughts…and your thoughts aren't all flowing fluidly…they're sporadic and fragmented.

I also hoped some people learned something in this fic. I hope you learned that one cannot live a life if you spend all your time hiding and not believing in people, no matter how messed up things may seem. But if you just enjoyed the fic for what it was, that's fine by me too! Because, when you think about the story really is just about one thing, this story was about a lost soul who finds a way back to the light, and learns something about himself in the process.

The first rule of life is to Trust even if you cannot trust in yourself…the next rule is where one learns that Love is at once a beautiful and terrible thing, and sometimes the grass isn't always green on the other side.

I would like to ask any of you readers who have been here from the beginning, or those who are new and have obsessive reading habits like me, to drop a review and tell me what you thought about the fic overall. Even if you usually don't review, it would really mean a lot to me to hear what you think. Thank you again for reading my fic, and join me again in the next saga and see how our Titans learn the rule of love.

Osco


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